A West Vancouver company has been ordered to repay a homebuyer's $1-million deposit after it failed to complete construction on the property in time. According to a B.C.
Supreme Court decision issued last week and published online Monday , Zihao Yan – also known as Tony Yan – entered a contract with Benbow Residences Inc. in 2018 to purchase a home on Benbow Road in the district's Westmount neighbourhood for $5.38 million.
Under the agreement, the court decision indicates, Yan would take possession of the property on Nov. 15, 2018, and the closing date for the transaction would be Oct. 30, 2019.
Before the closing date, Benbow Residences was required to complete construction on the home – including addressing 43 "deficiencies" identified after an inspection – and to provide an occupancy permit. Yan took possession as planned in November 2018, with construction ongoing, according to the decision. He spent December 2018 and January 2019 in China, expecting that he would return to find the deficiencies addressed and construction completed.
"When Mr. Yan returned from China, not only were many of the deficiencies not fixed, but the property was in a state of upheaval," reads B.C.
Supreme Court Justice Sandra M. Sukstorf's decision. "For example, the driveway was dug up and was unusable, there was no working boiler to heat the pool and hot tub, the smart controls in the home did not work, the security system did not work, and the patio doors did not close.
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