The costliest disaster in Canadian history
John Grasty's Blog
20 July 2016
In its zeal to torque stories about Fort Mac, the Canadian media has
forgotten the actual largest disaster in Canada with headlines like
this: “Fort McMurray wildfire estimated to be costliest disaster in
Canada”.
Dropping the word “natural” makes the headline of this article (and many others) inaccurate.
The $3.58-billion insured property damage estimates from the northern
Alberta wildfires might in fact be the costliest “natural” disaster in
Canadian history, but to set the record straight, the costliest
disaster in Canadian history is the ongoing Leaky Condo Disaster in BC,
which will have easily exceeded $5-billion to date, but who has been
counting?
Leaky Condo Disaster
Leaky Condo Syndrome
was first reported in the very early nineties, but didn’t get wide
media attention until the latter part of the decade. Then for about
another ten years varying levels of senior government did little to
stop the plundering of families, although outgoing Premier Dosanjh did
write to PM Chretien in May, 2001:
“Despite my government’s efforts to
resolve this horrific human tragedy, many thousands of homeowners
continue to struggle. It is my determination that this provincial
disaster requires immediate federal attention. I am formally
requesting, under Emergency Preparedness Canada, that the federal
government intervene with immediate assistance.”
After no response from the feds, and following a report released by the
Homeowner Protection Office in 2008 estimating that a third of all
leaky condos would remain unrepaired after 2012, the provincial
government decided to stop all interest-free loans.
More than twenty-five years since being first reported, we continue to
see many foreclosed properties of those unable to pay their leaky condo
assessments, sometimes three or four times larger than the $30k I was
personally assessed around 1998. Unfortunately I still get calls from
owners in despair, crying, not knowing what to do, and seeking help.
The members of COLCO (the Coalition of Leaky Condo Owners),
contributed to a document named the Leaky Rotten Condo List (LRC),
which identified strata properties for which more than one report of
water ingress was received from owners. Following a recent review by an
engineer and the preparation of a depreciation report, one of those
local (Tri-cities) LRC properties identified by owners back in 2000 as
“leaky”, has received a multi-million dollar assessment; there will
still be many more.
“buyer beware” prevails
Countless strata council members and owners have been in denial since
the time that their building was identified as “leaky”, and some were
lucky enough to not get caught selling without disclosing what they
knew. If you’re considering the purchase of a strata property, “buyer
beware” prevails, so do your due diligence, and remember for all
intents and purposes that homeowner protection is non-existent in BC.
top contents appendix previous next