Real estate law column by Bob Aaron

A recent court decision raises the thorny issue of whether it should be legal for builders to restrict the ability of new home and condo purchasers from suing them for deficiency claims exceeding the limits of the Tarion new home warranty. 

The case arose at West Harbour City, a 510-unit residential condominium project on downtown Fleet St. It was developed by West Harbour City (I) Residences Corp., a subsidiary of Plazacorp Investments. 

In the real estate field, when the value of a house might be affected by a history of murder, suicide, ghosts, hauntings or other unexplained happenings, it is often referred to as stigmatized.

To some buyers, a house with something like this in its background becomes psychologically tainted, even if there are no scientific grounds for the belief.

When a judge ordered Kenneth Sorensen to move his in-ground swimming pool, I can only imagine it spoiled his whole day.

The story began sometime before Sorensen bought 288 Raven Dr., in Kelowna, B.C., in 2007, and his neighbours, Olutoyese and Denise Oyelese, bought number 282 next door in 2009.

A prior owner of the Sorensen property constructed an in-ground swimming pool on the lot behind their house.  A patio and landscaping surrounded the pool, and a cedar hedge was planted along the line of an old chain link fence. A new fence was constructed beside the original one.

My nomination for the the most oddball real estate scheme of the year is last week’s proposal by Larry Chilton and his real estate broker to sell separate floors of his Victorian rooming house facing Trinity Bellwoods Park.

As reported by Kamila Hinkson last week in the Star, the first and second floors are available for about $480,000 each, plus the cost of renovating the house to create separate units. Half the house is also for sale, and the whole house is tagged at $1.7 million.