The Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) is still going after shady builders, and one of the latest targets is Hira Custom Homes Inc., a builder from Cambridge that got called out for “unethical conduct” while selling homes in Caledon.
On Wednesday, the HCRA announced it won’t be renewing Hira’s building licence after looking into claims that the company tried to sell homes already under contract, hiked prices without good reason, ignored licence conditions, and gave false info to buyers and the HCRA.
The issue that kicked off this whole thing involved a house at 91 Troiless Street in Caledon.
A letter sent to Kamal Hira, who runs the company, on February 12, 2024 explained that the buyer of 91 Troiless signed an Agreement of Purchase and Sale back in 2018 for $1,875,000. Between then and 2021, they handed over $750,000 in deposits. In 2021, Hira promised the home would be ready within three months. But after many delays, the deal finally closed in December 2022 for $2,294,038 – meaning the buyer paid an extra $419,038.
“Hira used unfair leverage against the complainant to extract hundreds of thousands of dollars in price increases. The complainant detrimentally relied on Hira’s promises when they sold their homes based on the first closing date given,” says the notice.
“While engaging in this scheme, Hira also sought new home buyers for these homes that were under contract. On at least one occasion, the complainant discovered real estate agents showing their home to potential purchasers while Hira was refusing to close on their properties.”
The notice also mentions that when questioned by the HCRA about occupancy permits from Caledon town officials-which allegedly required installing storm water culverts costing $450,000-Hira claimed these costs were unexpected. But Caledon said they told him about this cost upfront when issuing building permits; actual costs ranged between $80,000 and $140,000.
This all happened before Hira went bankrupt on April 18, 2023. Records from insolvency firm MNP Debt show he owed more than $4 million to unsecured creditors plus $525,000 secured creditors and another $4,000 preferred creditors. Altogether debts topped over $4.57 million.
The HCRA is now urging anyone thinking about hiring a builder to check them out first through Ontario Builder Directory-it lists licensing status along with any past issues with regulators. Right now it shows that Hira’s licence has been refused and flags up 19 “chargeable conciliations” plus over $1.61 million owed to Tarion.
