New home excavation a pain for elderly neighbours

It’s a familiar sight in older, upscale Toronto neighbourhoods: a modest home is purchased and torn down to make way for a modern, new abode with deeper basements, higher ceilings and more square footage.

But when buyers set-out to build a new home on Warwick Avenue in Forest Hill, the project had unintended consequences. The excavation caused the soil beside the neighbouring house to become unstable; a sidewalk running to the neighbour’s side door had to be removed for safety reasons by the contractor and the side door itself has been boarded up.

“It’s not right,” said Emilio Borges, whose elderly parents have owned the house since 1972.

His mother and father, each dealing with illness, are living outside of the home at the moment, but his dad is expected to return home by the end of the month. However, with the sidewalk gone and side entry to the house inaccessible, Borges is worried about how his father will get inside. His dad uses a walker and there are several steps to get to the front door.

At the centre of this issue is consent: “No permission was sought, no permission was given, it was a complete surprise to us,” said Borges.

The owners had appeared before a Committee of Adjustment process to get permission to build the new home. They said the Borges family was made aware of the construction. But absent from the home for months, neither of the owners nor their son were alerted about the beginning of the construction.

After becoming aware of the damage on his parents’ property, Borges hired a lawyer to ask for assurances from neighbours, committing to restore the sidewalk, repair any damage and re-open the side door.

“We were looking for an agreement from the home owners that they will honour these requests,” said Borges. However, the neighbours did not respond to three legal letters demanding immediate action.

The neighbours said they were instructed not to respond to the legal letter by the city of Toronto building inspector responsible for the project. The inspector did not return a call by Global News.

The Toronto couple building the new home declined to be interviewed. In an email, they said: “We are 100 per cent sure that our neighbour would much prefer the lack of a walkway for a few weeks than a very real possible alternative that a thousand pounds of concrete fall and injure or kill somebody. Furthermore, it has been established by properly accredited professionals that no material impact to the house has occurred. Finally, our contractor has been working under City of Toronto direction because safety trumps any other possible concern and all parties are working to finish the work as soon as possible.”

The Ontario Ministry of Labour issued a “stop work” order on the property this month until the contractor has ensured the development is safe.

Borges said he remains concerned that the excavation may have caused damage to the foundation of his parents’ home, pointing to what he says are new cracks in the family’s basement. The contractor told Borges a soils engineer has assured them the home is safe, but the owners have not shared any written reports with Borges.