By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: Jan. 19, 2013
The District of Squamish has settled a lawsuit with the owners of Marina Estate, the district reported last month.
The district was one of the defendants in the lawsuit that began two years ago.
Predictably, the district has refused to share details, only saying the claim was handled by their insurance provider, Municipal Insurance Association of B.C.
The district pays a deductible to MIA in the amount of $25,000 for eligible claims.
“Once it’s taken over by MIA, the district’s involvement in the matter is concluded,” said district spokesperson, Christina Moore.
The settlement was completed in last May.
The saga of leaky condos started almost a decade ago, with owners blaming the developer and district for shoddy construction.
By 2010, some residents had lost their homes after failing to get interest free loan from the Housing Protection Office (HPO) Reconstruction Loan Program.
The Squamish Chief reported in 2010 that HPO had its main purpose to distribute interest free loans specifically for leaky condo owners.
However, the program had shut down before processing Marina Estates requests, leaving some owners with no option but to finance repairs at a cost of $50,000 to $80,000 per unit.
The condo owners have faced an estimated $4 million in repairs after extensive water damage only 11 years after construction.
Marina estate owners and strata council members were tight lipped about the latest settlement.
Most owners contacted by the Reporter refused to share even minor details about the legal settlement.
“We don’t want any attention,” said Hilda Rizun, a condo owner.
Hilary Allison says
I would like to highlight an inaccuracy in the article above. The Housing Protection Office, although nearing the end of its mandate, was indeed still active at the time of application by Marina Estates owners. In fact, all owners who qualified were granted an HPO loan. For those who did not qualify, Marina Estates owners were no different from condo owners across BC who were victimized by the leaky condo problem, and many across BC lost their homes. Regarding the release of settlement details, I am saddened that our community newspaper chooses to put a “secrecy” spin on the issue. In Canada The Privacy Act guarantees that private citizens have a right to keep their personal information just that … private. If Mr. Ghuman would like to publish his income, assets, liabilities and legal settlements in the Squamish Reporter of course he is free to do so, but it is unfair to imply that NOT wishing to release such information implies the desire to hide something. Let’s move towards integrity in reporting, for the good of the community overall.
life insurance rates says
I don’t write a lot of comments, however I read through a few comments here District of Squamish Settles with Marina Estate Owners : The Squamish Reporter. I do have a couple of questions for you if it’s okay.
Could it be simply me or does it give the impression like some of these remarks come across like they are coming from brain dead folks?
😛 And, if you are posting on other online social sites, I would like to follow anything fresh you have to post.
Could you make a list of the complete urls of
all your social networking pages like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?
Hardip Kaur says
I like to say that I had bought a unit in marina estates in 2006 and paid top dollar for it, I got screwed by the seller and my realtor. As of right now I lost $86400.64 that I had to pay out of my own pocket and also lost my home I would like thank the city of Squamish and the people who ran marina estates both bunch of idiots still living in the 1980s I think it is time for the people of Squamish to come out of the 1980’s to 2014 and the people defraud me it might not be today but you can’t hide from karma and when that day comes and you know who are I will have a big smile on my face