New condo owners on hook for share of LaSalle developer’s unpaid tax bill.

Homeowners get bills developer didn’t pay the city

As new buyers, the handful of homeowners in a LaSalle residential development weren’t surprised to receive tax bills last month from the city of Montreal.

What they weren’t expecting was to be hit with charges f rom before they moved in.

But when the city couldn’t collect property taxes owed by the company behind the Bois des Caryers development near Angrignon Park, its financial-services department began sending bills to the homeowners.

Charging property owners for taxes they never incurred is something the city “doesn’t like to do,” a Montreal spokeswoman, Patricia Lowe, told The Gazette.

But in a story that should serve as a cautionary tale for buyers of new homes on recently created lots across Quebec, Lowe said a provincial law on the payment and reimbursement of property taxes gives the city no choice but to send the bills, which range from about $40 to $100.

Four households have been charged and more than four additional bills are on the way to certain residents in the large-scale project, after the site’s original owner, 91815712 Quebec Inc., failed to pay nearly $18,000 owed to the city, Lowe said.

The numbered company was first sent bills in April 2011, after the swath of land it bought for the project increased in value when it was converted into condo lots, Lowe explained. Residents who have received the bills live on Chouinard and Pigeon streets.

“This was not paid so, finally, after many efforts to reach the entrepreneur, the new owners had to be informed that a balance was owing,” she said.

Lowe said the bills sent to the owners are small because they are only being charged for their portion of the land site, which is calculated through a very complicated fiscal formula. New buyers could also potentially be affected.

First opened in 2011, Bois de Caryers was advertised as a 500-unit development, mixing cottages and condos. Provincial records show the company behind the project, 9181-5712 Quebec, has Patricia Navarro listed as its president and Allan Schachter listed as vice-president. Schachter, who couldn’t be reached for comment, is also listed as president of the company’s majority shareholder.

Notary Eva Hazan, who conducted the sales of the homes, said she was not aware of any unpaid taxes owed at the time of the transactions. Hazan said she is meeting with the city later this month and will make sure that all payments by residents will be refunded.

“I am meeting with the city to settle all this,” she said. “This is extremely complicated. But if there are any amounts owed by the developer, the developer will settle it.”