Taking
aim at condo problems
Outspoken
real estate lawyer critical of unfair condo purchase process
Veteran condo industry specialist says tougher rules need
DONNA LAPORTE
STAFF
REPORTER
When
Audrey
Loeb takes aim, even the arrows quiver.
As with William Tell, there's no doubt she will hit her mark,
but the beauty is in following the trajectory to the target.
She doesn't mince words. During the course of a simple lunch
recently at a downtown diner, the feisty lawyer skewered bad
building practices, weak condo legislation, disappointing
court decisions, shoddy workmanship and lawyers who draw up
documents so complicated the purchaser hasn't got a chance.
"These are difficult and trying times for the
consumer," says Loeb, who has spent almost 30 years
specializing in condominium law and has authored two books on
the subject (one for lawyers, one for the rest of us).
"You're buying a pig in a poke when you buy a new
condo," she says.
Developers pay their lawyers thousands of dollars to write
agreements of purchase and sale, which "are so one-sided
that purchasers truly have no rights. It's not fair."
She says she is seeing more and more examples of developers
saying they "might" do this or they
"might" do that, leaving the buyers twisting in the
wind.
What if, for example, your developer decides to put a
commercial parking lot under your building after you've signed
the agreement?
Builders have great latitude over what changes they make and
buyers' only recourse is to get out of their deal. Yet, people
don't want to walk away from their deposits.
"They want what they were told they were getting,"
says Loeb.
This was an extract from an article printed on The Toronto Star and
also found on the internet at http://www.thestar.com/.
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