By Tracey Arial
www.thesuburban.com
Potential homeowners in Quebec might want to ensure that properties they want to buy have proper construction permits from the municipality before closing the sale.
If not, they could be in the same position as 144 Laval residents who bought condos in 2005. Although Aldo Construction did receive permits to install sewage, plumbing and electricity for 12 buildings on an unidentified street, construction permits were never issued. Now that all the units are sold, the current owners are responsible.
One of these owners was among 166 citizens who complained to Laval’s ombudsman Nadine Mailloux last year, so the issue was detailed in her 2014 report tabled for city councillors on Tuesday, May 5.“The city is choosing to change the regulations to enable the construction permits to be given out, hopefully by July 31,” said Mailloux, during a reporters’ briefing the following day. “The City of Laval is currently studying the file.”
The construction permit issue was among 19 complaints that took Mailloux more than three months to resolve. She also spent lots of time resolving complaints that Laval dumped snow on private land, high taxes for empty lots and unfair zoning changes.
The vast majority of complaints (93) were easy to resolve, taking only five days. An additional 35 were resolved within a single month.
“The City of Laval has people with incredible knowledge and expertise, but sometimes the difference between favouritism and inequality is not always clear to city bureaucrats,” she said. “Sometimes they just need a different look at an issue. All of my suggestions so far have been accepted or are being analyzed now.”Mailloux says that the new administration is “noticeably different than the previous one.”
Nadine Mailloux
