The strata corporation for a distressed Thind Properties Ltd. project has entered the fold, just as the embattled developer’s project and another one were put into receivership by a B.C. Supreme Court judge Friday.
The strata corporation for Thind’s completed but largely unsold Highline building in Burnaby’s Metrotown area claims it is owed $1.1 million from the local developer, which is mired in litigation after becoming insolvent earlier this year.
According to court documents, 119 units in Highline are apparently unsold and held in the name of a Thind subsidiary. The strata corporation claims it is owed $1,100,016.35 for unpaid strata fees in respect of these units, as well as interest and other amounts.
B.C. Supreme Court Judge David Masuhara on Friday placed Highline and another stalled Thind project, Minoru Square in Richmond, into receivership following a petition by the projects’ lender, Toronto-based KingSett Mortgage Corp., which said it is owed in excess of $300 million across multiple Thind developments.
Thind Properties did not respond to KingSett’s Nov. 8 petition, and apparently did not dispatch a lawyer to Friday’s hearing, after which Masuhara appointed Toronto-based KSV Restructuring Inc. as the receiver for Highline and Minoru Square.
KSV is already the receiver for another insolvent Thind project, District Northwest in Surrey. Receivers are neutral third parties appointed by the court to put together an assessment of an insolvent business and a plan going forward.
Although it was not a party to KingSett’s petition involving Highline and Minoru Square, the Highline strata corporation, formally “The Owners, Strata Plan EPS 9599,” nonetheless submitted a response on Dec. 11 ahead of the Dec. 13 hearing at Vancouver's law courts.
The response claimed that Thind’s Highline subsidiary, formally “6511 Sussex Heights Development Ltd.,” owed the strata corporation $469,549.30 for “unpaid strata fees and interest” and $472,820.18 for “further strata fees and amounts owed pursuant to … the [Strata Property Act].” It also claimed $157,646.87 pursuant to a “master airspace easement agreement.”
The strata’s response also said it had filed liens against the unsold strata lots owned by Thind’s subsidiary, and contended the liens “rank in priority over the mortgage in favour of KingSett also registered on the lands.”
The next day, the strata corporation followed up with a new petition to the court, seeking various orders including the exclusive right to conduct sales of the 119 units held by Thind’s subsidiary.
BIV has reached out to the strata corporation’s lawyer, Sat Harwood of Lesperance Mendes Lawyers, for further comment, but has not received a response.
A telephone call and email to Thind Properties were not answered Tuesday. Daniel Nugent, a lawyer for Thind, earlier declined to comment, saying the matters are before the courts.
The company was founded by CEO, Daljit Thind, who started out as a construction worker upon his immigration to Canada, where his credentials as a pharmacist in India were not recognized.
