Family says 81-year-old woman is being ‘bullied’ in Ontario Line expropriation case

The family of an 81-year-old Toronto woman whose home is being expropriated for construction of the Ontario Line says she is being “bullied” to sell the house she has owned for 53 years for an amount that “doesn’t make sense.”

The Ontario Line is a project of the provincial transit agency, Metrolinx.

The property in question is located at the corner of Pape and Langley Avenue.

“The region is growing — an estimated 10 million people will live here by 2041 — but public transit has not kept up to meet that demand,” Metrolinx states on its website.

“Metrolinx may need to acquire property temporarily or permanently to support the construction and operation of important new transit projects. If Metrolinx confirms that your property is needed, you will receive written notification from us informing you that this is the case.”

“I do feel she’s being taken advantage of,” said Maria Vernezos’ daughter Georgia Xiropodis. “This is just outright bullying,”

The family questions the appraisal of the property and points to the square footage, which they say is incorrect. They said they submitted their own appraisal to prove the proper square footage.

“The physical numbers, the mathematics, do not make sense. For them to be saying, ‘This is what it is, take it or leave it,’ and being bullied to sign,” Xiropodis said.

“The communication has been very up and down. So they’re like, ‘No, we’re not going to take it, don’t worry, don’t worry,'” she said. “Then, just in February, they’re like ‘No, it’s a done deal, we’re taking it.'”

Real estate lawyer Bob Aaron, who is not involved in this particular case, said that with expropriation, it is not a matter of whether the property be taken, it’s a matter of when and for how much.

“When an expropriating body decides that it needs a piece of private property, it exercises its statutory rights to say, ‘We’re taking your property, we’re going to pay you, we have decided on what we think is the market value. If you don’t like it, you can appeal it, or you can just sign over, take our money, and leave,'” Aaron said.

“They have the absolute right to to take the property.”

The family shared with Global News copies of appraisals that were sent to them by Metrolinx.

In 2023, Metrolinx referred to a Colliers appraisal report that valued the property at $1.59 million “and that is what Metrolinx is offering, plus an incentive payment of $10,000.00 if Maria signs the Agreement of Purchase and Sale within 30 days.”

An updated appraisal sent to the family in February of this year indicated the value had dropped to $1.455 million.

Both appraisals were based upon a property with 1,764 square feet, but the family said it had advised Metrolinx the property is in fact 2,566 square feet.

“You have to sign a paper where it doesn’t even have the right square footage of your house,” Xiropodis said “It doesn’t make sense. It has to be for the good of everybody. (It) doesn’t mean that some people have to sacrifice.”

Her sister, Helen Vernezos, who lives in the six-bedroom home with her mother, said Metrolinx made “promises at the beginning” that never materialized.

“‘Don’t worry, we’ll find a house for your mom, it will be a seamless process,’ — all these false hopes that they’ve given us and then (we) find out that they’re not going to come to fruition. It has been very, very frustrating,” she said.

MPP for Toronto-Danforth Peter Tabuns said the situation should have been handled differently

“If you’re going to put people in a situation where they have to make sacrifices, be generous with them and be kind with them and make it easier for them,” Tabuns said. “They didn’t ask to move. They’re being forced to move. Don’t make it any harder than you have to. We will all benefit from the transit in the end. We should make sure these people are not put through the wringer.”

Metrolinx was also asked about square footage and the dollar value but in a statement, told Global News that it could not provide specific details on individual property negotiations since they are confidential matters but that it has “been in communication with the owner since 2022.”

Metrolinx added that it would continue to “work with the property owner throughout this process.”

“The property referenced is needed for work on the Ontario Line which will benefit the city for generations to come with over 227,500 more people within walking distance of transit,” a Metrolinx spokesperson said.

“As part of standard process, an initial offer is provided to the owner based on an appraisal by a third-party accredited appraiser. If at any point an owner believes a property is inaccurately valued, they can obtain their own independent appraisal report and the reasonable costs are covered in accordance with the Expropriations Act,” the spokesperson added.

Aaron said that if a homeowner receives a notice of expropriation, they should immediately hire a lawyer who specializes in expropriation.

“The lawyer or the homeowner will need an appraiser who has some experience in dealing with, or shall we say, fighting Metrolinx, or the other expropriating authority, like a school board or a municipality,” Aaron said.

“It happens,” he added. “It’s for the public good. But the individual homeowners may not be terribly happy.”

Vernezos needs to leave her home by the end of June but the family wonders where she will go.

“A five-bedroom, six-bedroom home in this area is going well over $2 million,” said Helen Vernezos.

Vernezos can apply to the Ontario Land Tribunal to have proper compensation determined by the tribunal.

“Each side will introduce its own appraisers,” Aaron explained.

“Each side will have the opportunity to question or cross-examine the other side’s appraisers, and then the tribunal will decide what the fair market value really is,” he continued. “Maybe Metrolinx doesn’t have all the facts. Maybe they don’t know about some of the improvements in the house. Maybe they don’t know that there was a business being carried on and how valuable that business was to the site.”