An Ontario new homebuilding company is now facing 124 charges after the regulator found it was illegally building homes without permission.
Albion Building Consultant Inc., also known as Albion Builders or simply Albion, had its licence to build and sell homes in Ontario revoked in February 2023.
Over the winter, the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) executed a search warrant at the company’s offices and seized thousands of company documents. At the time, the HCRA said it had reason to believe Albion was still building homes.
The regulator said that based on evidence obtained during the search warrant, it has laid 124 new charges against Albion and five business associates related to the construction of 40 new homes.
The charges include illegal building and selling, failure to enrol homes, failure to comply with conditions and being a party to an offence.
“It is the largest investigation in the HCRA’s history,” the regulator noted.
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In addition to the charges, the HCRA is also seeking a restraining order to prevent Albion from further violating the law and endangering consumers.
“Albion has repeatedly disregarded the law governing new home construction,” said Wendy Moir, the HCRA’s chief executive officer and registrar.
“The HCRA will continue to increase penalties on this former licensee until it stops putting the public at risk,” Moir continued. “Thousands of other builders across Ontario operate ethically and in accordance with the law. We cannot allow companies like Albion to continue to violate the law, undermine the industry’s integrity, and compromise public safety.”
In 2024, the HCRA said it simultaneously issued a freeze order, prohibiting Albion from withdrawing purchasers’ funds and requiring Albion to hold those funds in trust.
Albion is run by Zamal Hossain and his wife, Farida Haque. In 2022, the company was convicted of failing to enrol new homes in the warranty program with Tarion, as required by law. It was ordered to pay over $200,000 in fines for illegal building.
Hossain was individually convicted of acting as an officer in a company that failed to enrol new homes. Haque was individually convicted of acting as a vendor of a new home without being licensed.
“Albion and its officers and directors had a history of non-compliance without registering as a builder…including convictions in 2016 and 2019,” the HCRA said.
In February 2023, Global News showed up at Albion’s offices on Danforth Avenue in Toronto to locate Hossain, who agreed to do an interview with reporter Sean O’Shea.
“Yes, I broke the law. Anything else?” Hossain said.
“One hundred per cent, I agree with that,” Hossain said when asked about the requirement to register warranties.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
