Oakville man sues town over six-digit home repairs

Lawsuit claims extensive repairs to Bronte townhome wouldn't have been needed if the building was inspected properly.

Thestar.com
Oct. 5, 2017
By Alex McKeen

David Goodale and Jennifer Hyde had problems renovating their first home, so they were feeling more confident with their next purchase in October 2013. The Oakville townhouse was only six years old and they had a home inspection.

Looking back now, Goodale said that wishful attitude has turned irreparably sour.

"It's been one nightmare after another," Goodale, 41, said Thursday.

Four years after Goodale and Hyde bought townhouse No. 26 at 96 Nelson St., for $613,000, they're still reeling from the emotional and financial strain the home caused. They say they've spent $350,000 in repairs and legal fees, had to postpone their wedding (even splitting up temporarily), and were forced to sell their Oakville home and move to the less expensive Grimsby area.

None of the problems turned up on their home inspection, but lurked behind the walls — costly time bombs Goodale blames the Town of Oakville for failing to catch during mandatory building inspections when the home was first built (municipalities are responsible for enforcing Ontario's building code).

Goodale sued Oakville in August 2014, claiming $800,000 in losses and damages from negligence. The claim has not been proven in court, and Oakville denied both the existence of the losses, and any responsibility for them in an October 2014 statement of defence.

A spokesperson for the Town of Oakville said the town couldn't comment on the case because it's still before the courts.

The first red flag was a "musty smell" in the basement Goodale initially thought was caused by a minor leak. When an engineer broke open a piece of drywall, a host of structural issues were laid bare. The couple eventually learned there was a 10-centimetre gap between the rear foundation and a wall, among multiple other major structural problems.

Goodale alleges the town temporarily lost crucial building plans between 2007 and 2015 that could have saved him money in engineering fees, only to later argue that he had spent too much on his home repairs.

Mostly, he feels he's been failed by the town.

"The foundation walls don't touch . . . How does the inspector miss that?," he said.

All in all, it took a year, and much disruption to the lives of Goodale, Hyde and their neighbours, to fix the house's structural problems.

In the statement of defence, the town argues "municipalities do not provide a warranty nor do they guarantee that a building is constructed in accordance with the Ontario Building Code."

The statement goes on to claim that if structural deficiencies occurred in the construction of Goodale's former property, they arose after the inspections and were therefore not the town's responsibility.

Since selling the house and moving to Grimsby, Goodale said he and Hyde just want to get their lives back.

"They know we can't do this. They're just trying to crush us," he said of the town's defence.

Throughout the ordeal Goodale turned repeatedly to his town councillor, Sean O'Meara, who didn't comment on the details of the case. But O'Meara said he's "very, very sad" to see Goodale and Hyde leave the town under the circumstances they did.

"There are times when a municipal government sees itself as a corporation and acts like that," O'Meara said. "I would never ever want that to happen to anyone else again because of processes and circumstances and decisions that are made beyond his control."