MANDEL: Toronto 'slumlord' hit with $950G fine after JP triples suggested sentence

· Toronto Sun

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For years, the company branded a “slumlord” by many – including the mayor of Toronto – has managed to evade accountability.

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But courts are finally saying enough is enough.

In the most recent judgment against Havcare Investments, a Toronto justice of the peace rejected a joint submission by the city’s lawyers and the landlord’s paralegal that would have fined the company just $300,000 for ignoring countless work orders issued in 2025.

Instead, JP John Scarfe more than tripled the fine.

“The moral blameworthiness of Havcare is very high. Havcare is essentially a slumlord that preys on vulnerable tenants, by refusing to comply with the very basic standards set out in the Building Code Act and its regulations,” Scarfe wrote in his scathing ruling.

“Havcare is a repeat offender, now four times over. Even after being charged, prosecuted and pleading guilty, Havcare persists in remaining in an ongoing state of non-compliance.”

Company fined a whopping $950,000

Scarfe fined the company a whopping $950,000 plus a 25% victim surcharge, which follows another ruling last month in provincial offences court where the director of Havcare – Carolyn Krebs, aka Carolyn Goodman, aka Marian Linton – was actually sentenced to 15 days in custody and personally fined $120,000 after being convicted under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act over deficiencies at another Havcare building on the same street.

According to the recent ruling, Krebs owns at least seven buildings in Toronto. The 14-storey highrise at 500 Dawes Rd. has 282 units, 90 of which are unoccupied, and “despite its current dismal state” generates a yearly gross income of about $2.3 million and has an assessed value of $35 million.

Ryan Endoh, chair of the tenants’ association, was optimistic the tide is finally turning against the notorious landlord.

“I’m happy that the (JP) realizes the severity of the situation at 500 Dawes and the serious life risks,” he said in an interview.

Vulnerable population of seniors and disabled tenants

The highrise has a vulnerable population of seniors and disabled tenants who have faced years of inaction with units plagued with mold, leaks, cockroaches, mice and balcony guard rails that have completely rusted through.

“You can’t underestimate the human suffering,” Endoh said. “And it’s caused a level of fear of something catastrophic happening from years of maintenance neglect.”

The JP warned of the same.

“T he risk to life and/or permanent injury is significant and, at some point, highly likely. Count 12 began with an investigation into a balcony rail and guard system that had become detached outside of Unit 302. A small adult or child could have easily slipped through and fell to their death, or sustained significant permanent injuries,” he wrote.

“It is only a matter of time before someone falls off a balcony and dies.”

Havcare pleaded guilty to 13 counts of failing to comply with city orders issued by Property Standards in relation to various deficiencies at 500 Dawes Rd. – including rusted and missing balcony guard rails and a crumbling underground parking garage with falling chunks of concrete.

The joint submission ranged from a $10,000 to $15,000 fine each for 11 of the 13 counts and $75,000 each for the two charges relating to ignoring orders to hire an engineer to inspect and propose steps to repair the balconies and garage.

Scarfe reluctantly agreed to the “extremely lenient” fines for the 11 violations involved in the “deplorable” and “unacceptable” conditions at the building that had still not been repaired. But he called a fine of just $150,000 for the most serious counts of remedying the unsafe building as “ so low and so unhinged from reality that they would cause any reasonable person to lose confidence in our regulatory system of justice.”

Instead of $75,000 for each of those two violations that pose “significant danger” to tenants – which he said the company would just see as the cost of doing business and would continue to ignore repair orders – Scarfe fined Havcare $400,000 for each count.

“The principles of deterrence must be applied with sufficient force to discourage Havcare, and other slumlord corporations, from failing to maintain basic safety standards and putting lives of its vulnerable tenants at risk on a daily basis,” he concluded.

“T his situation cannot be allowed to continue. Havcare is well overdue for a stronger expression of specific deterrence. The lives of the tenants, many of whom are vulnerable, cannot be placed at this level of jeopardy,” Scarfe added.

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