Selling your home can be stressful, and all the paper work and legal documents can be overwhelming.
But a Pierrefonds couple never imagined that not having the original building permit for their garage would put the sale of their house in jeopardy.
Ann Kiff and Michel Guay were packing up, but now they've had to stop.
“It's really dragging us down. Because we thought we would have handed the keys over on Thursday and everyone would be happy. But it's not going to happen,” Kiff said.
What's stopping the closing of the sale is their garage – according to city regulations, it's too close to the property line.
Usually, home owners can get a minor derogation for that kind of infraction, but when they went to the city, they hit red tape because the garage was built without a permit.
“We found out through the city that there wasn't any paper work supporting the building [of the garage]. Yet . . . it's been here for almost 40 years,” Guay said.
When they bought the property more than 20 years ago, a notary had given them the all clear. But the notary they used for this sale flagged the garage's positioning.
“If anyone in the neighbourhood complains, the city will ask [the new owners] to remove it,” said kiff, and the prospective owners don’t want to have to deal with those headaches.
The buyers decided to give the couple five days to fix the problem and get an exemption for the garage. But the earliest the city can meet with the couple so that they can present their case is May 4, long after the five-day deadline.
City councillor Justine McIntyre says this type of holdup happens too often, and there needs to be a way to fast track the process.
“As I understand, the garage is on the land survey document which is dated from 1978, so it's been there at least since that time. And the owner has been paying taxes since that time as well, So I should think that this should not [prevent the couple from] selling the house,” she said.
The couple has already purchased a new home and will likely be stuck paying for both for a while. Their only option, for now, is to make their case to the city, hope for the best, and look for another buyer.
