SELKIRK—It appears that 18 buyers who made down payments for a spot in Selkirk’s beleaguered Shelter Cove modular home community are out of luck, following years of delays on their promised home.
Melissa Szekely, daughter to parents who made such a down payment, shared an update on social media on August 25, 2024 asking for others in the same boat to reach out.
“My parents purchased a home with them two years ago and the company has gone into receivership. They have been told that there is no chance of their home being built nor will their down payment of $77,786 be returned. I am in contact with a lawyer to see what can be done. In the meantime, I know that there are 17 others that are in the same boat. Hoping to get in contact with them to possibly start a class action lawsuit,” read her post, which generated a large discussion, where other purchasers chimed in, confirming that they too had received the same information.
Married couple Alfred and Charlene MacDonald are one of those affected. They reached out to The Press to share their story.
“Being one of 18 potential home buyers of Shelter Cove who are about to get swindled out of our deposit by a very mismanaged company, my wife and I were gullible enough to believe we were dealing with a reputable real estate company,” said Alfred in an email.
At 77 years old, and self-described as “not that fiscally healthy anymore,” he said the couple bought into a dream of owning a home where they could live the rest of their lives.
“This retirement community looked ideal. In April of 2022 we inquired about Shelter Cove in Selkirk,” he recalled, noting it took about a month to talk his wife into selling their home in Stoney Creek, as the stairs, grass cutting, and snow clearing were getting to be too much for him.
The couple put down a deposit on a one-floor modular home not long after, with a closing date of June 12, 2023.
“I asked the real estate agent if this closing date was really going to happen. Her response was we usually hit the closing date within a couple of weeks. Later that week my wife and I were walking around the property and were talking to one of the homeowners saying we just bought a home here in Shelter Cove. His response was ‘see you in two years if you’re lucky’. Going back to the agent with this information she says don’t listen to those old people they just like to spread rumours.”
The MacDonalds then sold their Stoney Creek home with an August 11, 2022 closing date. From there, they found a basement apartment in Port Dover for what they assumed would be eight months, based on their Shelter Cove closing date.
As outlined in our previous coverage of Shelter Cove, things did not go as planned. Citing funding shortfalls driven by pandemic-era inflation, the developer had a long list of deficiencies, most notably a County ban on further development of the site until issues with both the water and wastewater services were resolved. As reported, a number of finished modular homes sat wrapped in plastic on a lot on the site when The Press visited this summer, unable to be installed.
Since they moved, the MacDonalds, and any other purchaser who was unlucky enough to sell their home in advance, found themselves incurring unexpected expenses that were adding up, with no concrete information on when they would be able to move into their new home.
“For more than two years we have been renting an apartment, paying storage fees, and insurance on the storage unit. With the cost of the modular unit being what it was, we had enough money from the sale of our home to get some decent upgrades to our modular home,” said Alfred.
He said that Shelter Cove’s policy was that purchasers buying upgrades must pay 60% up front.
“Shelter Cove now has almost $80,000 of our money. We are retired and are living only on CPP and OAS pensions. Some of the other unsuspecting potential buyers are in for as much as $150,000.”
The couple’s move in date was shifted five times over that two-year period. With the site in receivership and plans to sell it underway, the purchasers find themselves, after their long wait, out of luck, and with a giant hole in their bank account instead of the peaceful home in the lake-adjacent community they’d envisioned spending their twilight years enjoying.
“We have been informed by the receiver because our deposits were not put into a secured trust that we have zero chance of ever getting our deposit back. We also will never get our home built by the company called 2039882 Ontario Limited o/a Shelter Cove,” said Alfred.
The ordeal has left him shaken.
“Our dreams of having a home in Shelter Cove have actually turned into a nightmare. For the last month I have not been sleeping well worrying about what to do next. Because we don’t have the money for lawyers’ fees and court costs, the courts have made it ok for unscrupulous people to steal our money,” said Alfred.
“I read the sales agreement and could not find anything in it that’s says we have the right to steal your money. They not only stole our money, they stole two years of our lives,” he continued.
He concluded, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”
Cathy Huckson and her partner are another couple in the same boat, with a pending sale of closure set for September of this year that they know will not happen, noting there is “not even a road to put our houses on.”
She received an email confirming their deposit would be listed as an unsecured claim in the receivership of Shelter Cove. She listed an approximate $42,862 deposit, as well as $17,270 in upgrade charges as the loss they are expected to swallow.
“In our contracts it does not state that the deposit funds were put in trust; we were told verbally by the sales rep that it was. Guess this is our own stupidity to take word of mouth and not follow up with it in writing,” said Huckson, who had an original closing date of September 28, 2022, nearly two years ago.
“It got to the point where Shelter Cove would not respond to any phone calls or emails. They have caused us a great deal of stress, anxiety, and even depression. Not to mention the financial ruin they have put us in. We have had to pay rent for the past two years as well. They swindled seniors, most retired, and we want the public to be aware of all that they have caused.”
Last Wednesday, Shelter Cove resident Chris Daiken sent an open invitation to any of those 18 purchasers to attend a meeting where they could organize, discuss the issue, and figure out a plan forward. The Press is told that a spokesperson for the group was appointed at the meeting, and that they will be in touch to share more details on their plans when ready.
The Press reached out to the property receiver, The Fuller Landau Group, with a list of questions about the issue. Representative Kelly McNamara replied, “We do not comment on matters before the court. A court date has been scheduled for October 2, 2024. We will share information as appropriate with the relevant parties as it becomes available.”
Stay tuned to The Press for more details on this evolving story as they become available.
