A pair of Toronto builders have been convicted of illegally selling new homes in the city.
The Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) announced on Thursday that Akram Syed Mohammed Hossain and Nasrin Jahan were found to have sold two homes without a licence.
The charges stem from a 2021 complaint about one property but, during an investigation, the HCRA discovered that Hossain and Jahan had sold the home in question as well as the one next door without a licence and that neither property was enrolled in the Tarion warranty program, which is required by law in Ontario.
On September 8, the builders pled guilty to the charges; Hossain was fined $15,000, while Jahan received a suspended sentence. Hossain was previously convicted of building a new home without a licence in 2015, for which he was given a suspended sentence.
"The rules for building and selling new homes are clear," said Wendy Moir, the HCRA’s Chief Executive Officer and Registrar. "Builders and vendors must be licensed by the HCRA to build and sell new homes, anything short of that is against the law."
The HCRA has been progressively cracking down on unethical developers since the start of 2023 — in February, Albion Building Consultant Inc.’s licence was revoked and Highbridge Construction’s licence was suspended, in June, Pinetree Developments Inc.’s licence was revoked, and in September the regulator refused to renew Mansoura Development Inc.'s building licence and convicted Altona Custom Homes of failing to enrol a new home in Tarion.
