A buyer of a strata unit at the Private Residences at Hotel Georgia has launched a class action suit seeking cancellation of condo purchase contracts.
Plaintiff C.H. Lee filed suit May 18 in the BC Supreme Court against Georgia Properties Partnership, 0729909 B.C. Ltd., Georgia Trust (2005) and Hotel Georgia Management Ltd.
Lee alleges that the defendants breached the Real Estate Development Marketing Act (REDMA) by failing to accurately disclose when construction on the development would be complete.
The suit alleges that the plaintiff entered into a contract to purchase a strata unit in October 2007, paying a deposit of $312,250.
The suit further alleges that an original disclosure statement concerning the project and filed in September 2007 set a construction completion date of December 2011.
The suit claims that while amendments were filed through to January 29, 2012, they did not "identify and correct the construction completion date of December 2011," even though "at all material times the defendants knew or ought to have known" that construction on the development wouldn't be complete by December 2011.
The suit claims that on April 24, 2012, the Private Residences at Hotel Georgia informed the plaintiff that construction of the development was anticipated to be completed in the last quarter of 2012.
Lee contends that those actions constitute breach of the REDMA.
Lee is seeking to have the suit certified as a class action, with the class defined as all other purchasers of development units.
The plaintiff and class members are seeking:
- a declaration that the defendants are in breach of the REDMA;
- a declaration that the purchase agreements are unenforceable against the members of the class; and
- an order requiring that the defendants, upon demand, return deposits and all accrued interest to the members of the class.
None of these allegations has been proven in court.
Last September, a contractor filed suit against the Hotel Georgia Development Ltd. for more than $1.3 million in alleged debt.
