859 West moved 107 condo buyers in without occupancy permits — penalty cut to $612K

Between September 26 and 29, 2023, developer 859 West Condos Inc. gave 107 purchasers occupancy dates at its 11-storey condo at 859 The Queensway in Etobicoke before obtaining the final occupancy permits the City of Toronto requires. In August and September 2023 its lawyers had sent purchasers notices marked 'urgent' stating their units were ready — notices tribunal vice-chair Geneviève Painchaud found contained 'inaccurate or misleading information': 'What I find especially concerning in the occupancy notices is the dishonest claim that the units were ready for occupancy.'

According to the decision, the company's vice-president of operations realized on the afternoon of September 26, 2023 that the final permit was not in hand. Painchaud found the initial oversight was not deliberate — but that the developer 'was aware it did not have occupancy permits and was deliberate in continuing to have more purchasers take occupancy', scheduling another 78 of the 107 units over the following three days. She described the conduct as 'unfair, dishonest and lacking integrity' and 'reckless'. The permits were ultimately issued within days of the scheduled dates.

After an HCRA investigation — a proposed $4.49-million penalty across 145 units in December 2025, narrowed to a $3.295-million penalty on 107 units in February 2026 — the Licence Appeal Tribunal cut the penalty to $611,897.03. Painchaud rejected the regulator's assumption that purchasers would otherwise have waited 90 days ('very speculative and unsupported'), recalculating the developer's financial benefit at seven days ($344,397.03 instead of about $1.9 million), and cut the 'excessive and punitive' base penalty to $267,500 — $2,500 per unit.

A $3.295M administrative penalty, reduced on appeal to $611,897.03 — with the ethics breach for all 107 units upheld

A final occupancy permit is a mandatory requirement before a newly built condo can be occupied — 107 buyers moved in without one.

The 'urgent' notices told purchasers units were ready when permits had not been issued, which the tribunal found inaccurate and misleading.

After discovering the missing permit, the developer let another 78 units take occupancy over three days rather than delaying.

The breach paid: avoiding delayed-occupancy compensation and collecting occupancy fees early, which the tribunal agreed was a financial benefit.

Once you know the permit is missing, continuing is the violation: the first oversight was an accident, the next 78 move-ins were a choice.

The tribunal upheld the HCRA's finding that 859 West violated Ontario's homebuilder code of ethics by failing to treat purchasers fairly, honestly and with integrity. Mitigating factors — no demonstrated purchaser impact and no prior non-compliance — halved the penalty again from the regulator's version, to $611,897.03.