ELORA – Young people buying their first family home, a woman looking forward to moving her family out of a temporary living situation at her parent’s house and a couple chasing early retirement all had their sights set on making it happen in Elora.
All had plans, and down payments deposits, on new houses set to be built at the South River Elora development.
Now, their plans are up in the air as their pre-construction agreements were suddenly terminated this week and builder Gemini Homes told them to schedule a time to come pick up their deposits.
Gemini Homes, one of two builders at what will eventually be a more than 400-unit subdivision off South River Road in Elora, said in a statement to EloraFergusToday that 32 purchasers were affected. The builder said it is open to having discussions with the purchasers in an attempt to find a mutually acceptable solution for all parties in the circumstances.
The notices informing that the agreements were terminated sent via email by Gemini Homes were short and to the point:
“Please see attached notice that we have been unable to meet the condition laid out in the Tarion Statement of Critical dates. If you could please let me know a day and time you are able to come in to pick up your deposit refund, I would like to take some time to explain how Gemini Homes is looking to move forward on this site.”
Pierre Desrochers and Joanna Szurmak got theirs after 5 p.m. Tuesday without prior warning.
“We were kind of bugging them in November and December, seeing if everything was on schedule. We never got any warning sign,” Desrochers said.
The couple, along with Szurmak’s parents, each bought a pre-construction home in the development.
“Everybody has financial plans and to us being able to get that house meant I’d be able to retire early and pursue my dream,” Szurmak said.
Some of those who reached out to EloraFergusToday asked their full names not be used due to possible future legal action.
“I was completely taken aback, honestly flabbergasted at what I was reading,” said Samantha.
After being dissatisfied with the home prices in Guelph, Samantha said she and her partner decided a new build in Elora was right for them and put a deposit down in February of 2021. They were set to move in by the end of November 2022.
Another buyer, who wished to remain anonymous, said the agreed upon price was $840,000 when he signed the contract. Now he claimed the exact same house plan on the South River Elora website is listed for nearly $1.2 million.
No house models with prices shown on the website are listed for under $1 million.
“We were maxed at what that original price was and we were almost stretching to make it work, so it’s not an option,” he said when asked if he could pay more.
Sarah said the price agreed upon with the builder was around $730,000. Now she said her family are essentially homeless.
“We can’t get back into the market because we sold our house, we’re living with my parents which we can't do long term,” Sarah said.
Nick, a first time buyer, put an $81,000 deposit down and relocated his career to the area. He’s now left feeling “screwed out of the market.”
The note attached to the email sent to these buyers states condition one from paragraph six of the addendum to the agreement of purchase and sale was not satisfied by the required date of Jan. 13, 2022.
This condition is for the “completion of hard services for the property or surrounding area (i.e. roads, rail crossings, water lines, sewage lines, other utilities).”
In a statement to EloraFergusToday, Gemini Homes emphasized they did not terminate the agreements but rather the agreements automatically terminated in accordance to the terms.
Further, the statement said the company does not control the installation of timing of the services and at this point the services have not been installed.
“With the pandemic, there are serious supply chain disruptions and labour shortage issues in the construction industry and the result is unavoidable delays in projects being completed,” the statement said, adding weather over the summer and fall also contributed to delays.
However, the company stated they are confident the development and township are doing “everything they can to have the servicing installed as quickly as possible.”
Kendra Martin, spokesperson for Centre Wellington, confirmed via email the township is working with the developer on preliminary acceptance for the first phase of municipal infrastructure but declined to comment further.
“There is no current agreement between Gemini Homes and the Township and there is no contractual obligation in the subdivision agreement between the township and the developer (Haylock Farms Inc.) for the South River subdivision that require the hard services be completed by Jan. 13, 2021,” Martin said in her email.
A representative of Granite Homes, the other company building homes in the subdivision, said by email they have not had to cancel any pre-construction agreements and stressed they are a separate corporation with no shared ownership with Gemini Homes.
Now these buyers are considering their next steps, whether that is to hear out what the builder has to offer or if there is any legal recourse they can take at this point.
“We want our house, we want it built to standard and we want it for the price we paid,” Samantha said.
Nick said he feels there’s little else for them to do at this point other than take legal action.
“We don’t have a choice, people’s lives are completely impacted by this, we’re screwed I don’t know what to do,” he said.
