Buyer of home sold by public curator kept in the dark
‘We didn’t put these people out,’ owner says
The woman who bought the Hutchinson St. triplex sold by the public curator says she acted in good faith in buying an investment property. She and her husband told The Gazette they do not intend to occupy the residence, but were not responsible for expelling a mentally ill man and his elderly mother from their home of 50 years last week.
The new owners, who spoke on condition their names not be published, said they did not even meet the family, which was evicted last Thursday after the public curator sold their home to cover mounting expenses.
“We’ve done nothing wrong,” said the woman’s husband. “We didn’t put these people out.” The new owners spoke to The Gazette in the wake of a public outcry following reports about John Panagiotopoulos, 54, and his mother Cristina, 79, being dispossessed by the very agency responsible for caring for the man.
The eviction comes as a watchdog group is raising the alarm that there is no oversight or accountabil- ity when it comes to the assets or money – about $315 million in 2010 – that the curator manages for its 12,500 wards.
François Loiselle, director of communications for the public curator, said such evictions are rare – an occurrence that happens as a last resort following a court order.
Court documents show the triplex was initially evaluated at $747,000 in 2010, and re-evaluated on April 14, 2011, at $915,000, providing certain decontamination and renovation work was done; “otherwise it is worth $820,000 as is.”
The court authorized the public curator to list the property for sale for $899,000 with real estate agent Demetrios Marinakis (for a five per cent commission) and to accept “any offer to purchase over the price of $779,000.”
The current owner signed the final offer to buy on Aug 5, 2011, for $791,000.
A similar triplex down on the street recently sold for $925,000, while comparable properties in the neighbourhood are listed at from $1.1 million to $1.2 million.
John became a ward of the state after his mother contacted the local CLSC about his extreme hoarding.
She wanted help for his psychiatric disorder. He had become violent after the city forcibly cleared his apartment of rubbish when it became a fire-hazard.
John and his mother are now camping on a couch at his sister’s place.
“He is bringing things in – it’s very difficult. This was a house that my mother worked two jobs to buy in 1962,” his sister, Chrysoula, complained. “It’s (the curator’s) responsibility to find him a place to live, to get him doctors’ appointments and medication.”