Fines as high as $50K for owners of vacant properties in Sault Ste. Marie

The owners of 73 vacant properties in the Sault have been fined for violations of the city's vacant properties bylaw, including 33 owned by a firm going through a high-profile insolvency process. (Google Images photo)

The owners of 73 vacant properties in the Sault have been fined for violations of the city's vacant properties bylaw, including 33 owned by a firm going through a high-profile insolvency process.

The largest fine issued under the bylaw is a $50,000 issued to a numbered corporation for a vacant property on Huron Street, followed by a $10,000 fine for a North Street property and a $5,000 for Wellington Street West property.

Both are also owned by numbered corporations.

Also racking up major fines are a group of real estate companies that own 631 units in northern Ontario, including single family homes multi-unit buildings.

Collectively one of the largest owners of residential real estate in Ontario, it filed for creditor protection in January under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). When the companies filed for creditor protection, they had accumulated more than $144 million in debt but had less than $100,000 in cash on hand at the time.

While the group of companies claimed it was buying properties to renovate and rent them at a profit, it emerged in CCAA proceedings that it was attracting large investments but spending that money on luxurious items and charging itself high fees for 'managing' the properties.

When cash began to run out, the directors would take out multiple mortgages on the same properties.

The group of companies fined for violations on 33 of their vacant properties in the Sault are Balboa Inc., DSPLN Inc., Happy Gilmore Inc., Interlude Inc., Multiville Inc. and The Pink Flamingo Inc. Inc.

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Several of fines were as high as $2,000, including one for a property on Edinburgh Street. The companies also owed the City of Sault Ste. Marie $645,125.05 in property taxes and other fees at the time they filed for CCAA protection.

The most recent update on that process on Oct. 11 said there have been 323 credit bids to acquire the properties used to secure the mortgages.

A credit bid is a process in which a creditor bids to acquire the assets used by the insolvent company to secure a loan.