cheapmeister
Jul 12th, 2012, 07:10 PM
It took Sydney Walters six years to figure out why his Woodbridge home stayed so hot in the summer, so cold in the winter and was full of mould – the nine-year-old semi-detached house had no insulation in the attic.
And with temperatures set to top 30C Thursday and Friday he says he and his family will probably spend nights in a tent they have erected in the backyard.
Walters has sued the builder and the city, which sparked a domino effect: the city is suing the builder, and the builder is suing the insulation installers and the city, each saying the other should pay if a judge rules in Walters’s favour.
None the allegations in the lawsuits have been proven in court.
But amid the all the lawsuits, Walters just wants to know who will foot the $370,000 bill to make his house livable again.
“Everybody’s blaming everybody,” says Walters, who lives in the house with his girlfriend, their 13-year-old son, and her in-laws. “And they’ve just put us through hell.”
Walters admits he was naïve when he agreed to buy the home from its original owners in late November 2004. As a rookie homebuyer he never thought to hire an independent home inspector to ensure a house built two years earlier was up to code.
And as someone dealing for the first time with utility bills, he says he had no clue monthly $400 heating bills weren’t normal.
But as other problems mounted he began to suspect the house had serious defects.
In the winter, he says, his house was the only one in the development with no snow on the roof. When he would crank up the furnace, the heat would escape though the top of the house, melting snow and causing leaks.
In the summer, even with air conditioning, his house is unbearably hot, while standing moisture has allowed mould to grow rapidly, Walters says. He believes simply spending time inside is a health hazard, and both mould specialists and Walters’ family doctor have told him staying in the home is unsafe for the family.
He says he enlisted several contractors over the years to determine the root of the problems but none of thought to look in the attic until March 2011, when a contractor discovered it lacked insulation.
None of the parties involved disputes the attic is bare.
In April 2011 the city of Vaughan ordered Walters to install insulation to bring his house up to code, and representatives from the builders, Villa Royale Homes, inspected the attic and found no insulation there.
But nobody can agree on who is at fault.
Through a Freedom of Information Act search Walters unearthed a document showing the city inspector who pronounced the house fit for sale in 2002 noted insulation in the first and second floors but said nothing about the attic.
In $500,000 lawsuit filed in January, Walters blames Villa Royale for not installing insulation and the city of Vaughan because a city-employed inspector seems to have failed to catch the builder’s alleged mistake.
“I don’t think there’s anything malicious, I just think he didn’t (inspect the attic),” says Ronald Birken, the lawyer representing Walters in the suit. “Everyone wants to pass the buck to everyone else.”
The city disputes Walters’s claims but has filed a cross claim against Villa Royale for not insulating the attic.
“The failure to place insulation, if a latent defect, was wholly the fault of the builder, Villa Royale,” the statement of claim reads.
Villa Royale vice president John Defilippis says the entire lawsuit is Walters’ laughable attempt to force others to pay to fix a problem he could have solved years ago.
“How could you be living there for five years and not know there’s no insulation in the house?” he says. “I can’t wait to see what the outcome (of the court case) is going to be but I’ll tell you one thing: it’s very funny. Very funny.”
Walters and his lawyer see no humour in the situation.
They allege mould in the house has triggered health problems for everyone living there, including asthma and serious allergies. Birken says the dollar amount of the lawsuit may rise if tests determine Walters and his family have suffered lasting physical damage.
According to a contractor hired by Walters, repairing the damage caused by years of unchecked mould growth would cost $370,000, or roughly $50,000 more than Walters paid for the house.
Defilippis, however, remains skeptical of Walters’ claims and in a phone interview with the Star insisted that insulation had indeed been in place in the attic of the home. He speculated a contractor hired either by Walters or the home’s original owner had removed it.
Defilippis was equally adamant that his company was neither being sued by the city of Vaughan, nor suing Maple Drywall, the company hired to install the insulation.
“We’re not suing the drywall company because they haven’t done anything wrong,” he says.
But a statement of claim in Villa Royale’s cross suit against Maple alleges Maple “failed to install insulation and all related components according to the Ontario Building Code and/or in accordance with acceptable industry standards.”
Maple Drywall did not respond to the Star at press time.
Birken says there is no timeline on settling these lawsuits, and isn’t sure when – or if – any of them will go to trial.
Meanwhile, Walters and his family spend as little time as possible indoors. If Walters has to sleep inside instead of in the backyard tent, he uses a couch next to an open window in the living room.
“Why are we paying for a house?” he says. “Toronto puts out a heat alert, and my house is even hotter.”
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1225184--homeowners-swelter-in-backyard-tent-amid-heated-insulation-dispute
-link has video of the owner living in a tent.
Now this guy is paying a mortgage on a house he cannot live in. He needs $370k to make his house livable, but for now he is living in a tent in his backyard. I dunno what they will do when winter comes, move into the garage? Are the builders 'Villa Royal homes' any good? So what would you do if this happened to you? What do you think he should do?
And with temperatures set to top 30C Thursday and Friday he says he and his family will probably spend nights in a tent they have erected in the backyard.
Walters has sued the builder and the city, which sparked a domino effect: the city is suing the builder, and the builder is suing the insulation installers and the city, each saying the other should pay if a judge rules in Walters’s favour.
None the allegations in the lawsuits have been proven in court.
But amid the all the lawsuits, Walters just wants to know who will foot the $370,000 bill to make his house livable again.
“Everybody’s blaming everybody,” says Walters, who lives in the house with his girlfriend, their 13-year-old son, and her in-laws. “And they’ve just put us through hell.”
Walters admits he was naïve when he agreed to buy the home from its original owners in late November 2004. As a rookie homebuyer he never thought to hire an independent home inspector to ensure a house built two years earlier was up to code.
And as someone dealing for the first time with utility bills, he says he had no clue monthly $400 heating bills weren’t normal.
But as other problems mounted he began to suspect the house had serious defects.
In the winter, he says, his house was the only one in the development with no snow on the roof. When he would crank up the furnace, the heat would escape though the top of the house, melting snow and causing leaks.
In the summer, even with air conditioning, his house is unbearably hot, while standing moisture has allowed mould to grow rapidly, Walters says. He believes simply spending time inside is a health hazard, and both mould specialists and Walters’ family doctor have told him staying in the home is unsafe for the family.
He says he enlisted several contractors over the years to determine the root of the problems but none of thought to look in the attic until March 2011, when a contractor discovered it lacked insulation.
None of the parties involved disputes the attic is bare.
In April 2011 the city of Vaughan ordered Walters to install insulation to bring his house up to code, and representatives from the builders, Villa Royale Homes, inspected the attic and found no insulation there.
But nobody can agree on who is at fault.
Through a Freedom of Information Act search Walters unearthed a document showing the city inspector who pronounced the house fit for sale in 2002 noted insulation in the first and second floors but said nothing about the attic.
In $500,000 lawsuit filed in January, Walters blames Villa Royale for not installing insulation and the city of Vaughan because a city-employed inspector seems to have failed to catch the builder’s alleged mistake.
“I don’t think there’s anything malicious, I just think he didn’t (inspect the attic),” says Ronald Birken, the lawyer representing Walters in the suit. “Everyone wants to pass the buck to everyone else.”
The city disputes Walters’s claims but has filed a cross claim against Villa Royale for not insulating the attic.
“The failure to place insulation, if a latent defect, was wholly the fault of the builder, Villa Royale,” the statement of claim reads.
Villa Royale vice president John Defilippis says the entire lawsuit is Walters’ laughable attempt to force others to pay to fix a problem he could have solved years ago.
“How could you be living there for five years and not know there’s no insulation in the house?” he says. “I can’t wait to see what the outcome (of the court case) is going to be but I’ll tell you one thing: it’s very funny. Very funny.”
Walters and his lawyer see no humour in the situation.
They allege mould in the house has triggered health problems for everyone living there, including asthma and serious allergies. Birken says the dollar amount of the lawsuit may rise if tests determine Walters and his family have suffered lasting physical damage.
According to a contractor hired by Walters, repairing the damage caused by years of unchecked mould growth would cost $370,000, or roughly $50,000 more than Walters paid for the house.
Defilippis, however, remains skeptical of Walters’ claims and in a phone interview with the Star insisted that insulation had indeed been in place in the attic of the home. He speculated a contractor hired either by Walters or the home’s original owner had removed it.
Defilippis was equally adamant that his company was neither being sued by the city of Vaughan, nor suing Maple Drywall, the company hired to install the insulation.
“We’re not suing the drywall company because they haven’t done anything wrong,” he says.
But a statement of claim in Villa Royale’s cross suit against Maple alleges Maple “failed to install insulation and all related components according to the Ontario Building Code and/or in accordance with acceptable industry standards.”
Maple Drywall did not respond to the Star at press time.
Birken says there is no timeline on settling these lawsuits, and isn’t sure when – or if – any of them will go to trial.
Meanwhile, Walters and his family spend as little time as possible indoors. If Walters has to sleep inside instead of in the backyard tent, he uses a couch next to an open window in the living room.
“Why are we paying for a house?” he says. “Toronto puts out a heat alert, and my house is even hotter.”
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1225184--homeowners-swelter-in-backyard-tent-amid-heated-insulation-dispute
-link has video of the owner living in a tent.
Now this guy is paying a mortgage on a house he cannot live in. He needs $370k to make his house livable, but for now he is living in a tent in his backyard. I dunno what they will do when winter comes, move into the garage? Are the builders 'Villa Royal homes' any good? So what would you do if this happened to you? What do you think he should do?