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'You think you live in a nice home' ELDERLY
COUPLE SUFFERS AFTER UNKNOWINGLY BUYING MOULD-FILLED HOUSE IN BRAMALEA
RAIDED BACK IN JUNE By ALAN CAIRNS,
AN AILING elderly
couple who unwittingly bought a former marijuana grow house could face
$25,000 in bills to repair their mouldy new Bramalea home. Urbano, 74, a
retired hospital cleaner, needs a cane to walk and suffers from asthma,
diabetes and high blood pressure. His wife Antoinetta,
70, has crippling arthritis and can barely walk. She has had 13 operations
for sinus problems and has high blood pressure. The couple -- who
asked that their last name not be used -- bought the bungalow in September
so they could move from But, since moving in,
Urbano and Antoinetta have suffered various new ailments, including
constant headaches, sore throats, dizziness, nosebleeds and exhaustion. WEED LAB They learned after
closing that the bungalow is a former marijuana grow house. The Sun has
confirmed the house was raided June 29 this year and that a sophisticated
weed lab and 370 pot plants were removed. A mould inspector two
weeks ago verified that mould is on the floorboards, in the furnace vents
and in the attic. Now, they are trying
to figure out who knew what and when. "This is a
disgrace," said the couple's daughter, Maria Kanga. "When you breathe
in these (mould) spores you cannot see them. It is like fighting a ghost.
You think you live in a nice home and you are actually being (harmed) by
what you are breathing." Kanga is appalled at
her parents' predicament. The seller asked
$269,000 for the corner-lot house, which was listed by realtor Sandy
Kennedy of Re/Max Realty Services Inc., located in Kennedy told the Sun
he had done nothing wrong. He said that prior to
the sale, the vendors declared under oath it had not been a grow house. He
said a reputable home inspector found nothing wrong with the property in a
pre-sale exam. Kanga said her parents
believed the home was "perfect" because it was on a quiet court,
had a wheelchair access ramp and an electric elevator to the basement. Kanga and her parents
told their realtor and family friend, Robert Harvey, of "When we walked
into the house, what we saw was a fairly updated and renovated house that
looked in good condition. Above and beyond that, we also saw a house that
fitted their needs because it was wheelchair accessible," The seller ultimately
agreed to a price of $263,900. The elderly couple went in with an offer of
a $10,000 down payment, a cash payment upon closing and agreed to an early
closing date. SWORE UNDER OATH Kanga's parents inked
the deal Sept. 26 and moved in Oct. 8. Kanga said her parents
were clueless about the home's past use until her dad met a neighbour and
was told that Peel Regional Police had raided the home in June. When she called
Kennedy after the closing, Kanga said he initially told her to ignore
"nosy" neighbours. Kanga said she called
police, who confirmed the bust. She then hired mould expert Frank
Haverkate. His mould-sniffing dog, Haverkate, who did an
environmental inspection and tests at the house, said although visual
evidence of mould appears not to be severe, a laser-particle counter found
high amounts of debris in the air, which he said he believes are residual
mould spores from a "botched clean-up job." Haverkate said while
air samples are still being analysed, he estimates it could cost up to
$25,000 to clean up the home. Kennedy, the real
estate agent for the seller, denies any wrongdoing, saying he is
"99.9% sure I did absolutely nothing wrong and I (sold the house) by
the code, by the rules." Kennedy said the
seller swore under oath and "swore up and down" the home was not
a marijuana grow house. "I have a written
declaration from my owner. I have it in writing, signed and
notarized," Kennedy said. Kennedy said Harvey
made two mistakes when he neglected to write into the offer the following
two conditions: 1) the home must pass an inspection, and 2) the seller
must declare the home was never used as a grow house. Kennedy said Harvey
had a fiduciary duty to protect his client, while "my fiduciary duty
was to protect my client." "(Harvey) was a
family friend. He came in, put this deal together in 24 hours ... wham,
bam, thank you ma'am," Kennedy said. Kennedy acknowledged
the seller's denials that the home was a grow house came after an earlier
purchase offer. "(The seller)
vehemently denied that it ever was (a grow house) and gave me a written
declaration that it wasn't," Kennedy said. "The agent's job for
the buyer is to confirm that (the) information is accurate and to put the
appropriate clauses in the offer to protect his buyer. That's all I need
to go on." Kennedy said a
pre-sale inspection was done by a reputable Brampton home inspector who
"doesn't think it was a marijuana grow house." Kennedy said he has a
copy of that inspection report. He seemed certain the issue is headed for
court and said he would be happy to present his evidence at that time. He
said the seller would "probably respond" in court. Harvey, the couple's
real-estate agent, said it would not have mattered if he had put a grow
house declaration clause into the offer. "What am I going
to get ... a vendor who is going to lie to me? I can write that clause 27
days a week and it doesn't make any difference ... (the seller) is still
going to deny it." Harvey said Kanga and
her parents want to keep the property, but they want the sellers to pay
for a proper cleanup. The Sun talked with
three neighbours, each of whom claims to have independently told Re/Max
agents when the house was up for sale that it had been a grow-op. One woman said she
asked an agent -- who was not Kennedy -- how they hoped to sell the home,
given its history and agent-disclosure obligations. She said that agent
told her that there are times when "we do not have to disclose,"
and then gave her the brush-off. One man said when he
called Kennedy about the house, he said Kennedy told him it was not a grow
house. The man and his wife say they argued to the contrary, telling
Kennedy they saw police remove lights and bags and that the owners later
had arranged for a vacuum truck to take out soil. A third neighbour said
he confronted an open-house agent -- who was not Kennedy -- and asked him,
"Did you know this was a grow house?" "He said, 'I
don't know that,' " the neighbour said. "I said, 'You
know now ... and Sandy (Kennedy) should know, and you should know that
this was busted by police.'" But the neighbour said
the open-house agent "didn't seem to be that interested." Kennedy said the above
statements from the three neighbours "aren't true," and if the
couple who bought the house had been "done wrong," then he is
"disappointed." Kennedy said he is
"more than happy" to go to court "and show that we did our
due diligence at our end. "And I think that
the facts will show that ... that we did everything by the book, by the
rule, to the T." |
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