HCRA Lays 124 Charges Against Toronto Homebuilder In Largest-Ever Investigation

In February, the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) executed a search warrant at the offices of Albion Building Consultant Inc., seizing hundreds of thousands of business records after the Toronto-based homebuilder was caught building homes without a licence and accepting “substantial payments” on the sale of those homes.

Some seven months later, the HCRA has revealed that evidence obtained during the search has led to 124 new charges laid against Albion and five business associates related to the construction of 40 new homes. “The charges include illegal building and selling, failure to enrol homes, failure to comply with conditions, and being a party to an offence,” the provincial regulator said in a news release from Thursday.

“It is the largest investigation in the HCRA’s history,” the release also said.

According to the HCRA’s Chief Executive Officer and Registrar Wendy Moir, the violations uncovered during the February search were “extensive” and indicative of “ongoing misconduct” that poses a serious public risk. “We advise all consumers to be on the lookout and extremely cautious of Albion falsely presenting itself as a licensed builder, which it is not,” Moir added. “They are not qualified or authorized to build or sell homes.”

The HCRA is additionally seeking a restraining order “to prevent Albion from further violating the law and endangering consumers.” An application filed with the Ontario Superior Court on August 9 describes a “complete disregard for the laws regulating new home builders and vendors in Ontario” and “a history of flagrantly disobeying orders issued by both the HCRA and the Licence Appeal Tribunal.”

‘A Repeat Offender’

The HCRA underscored on Thursday that Albion is a “repeat offender.” The regulator was launched fairly recently, in February 2021, and has publicly cracked down on Albion on four separate occasions since, this latest offence included. To put that figure into perspective, the HCRA has reprimanded around a dozen builders since it has been in effect — through licence revocation, freezing assets, and laying charges — and Albion’s is the only name that has come up more than twice.

Albion’s first offence through the HCRA traces back to February 2023, which is when it came to light that the company’s building licence had been revoked. This marked the first time since its launch that the HCRA opted for such a course of action (which is regarded as the most severe that the regulator can take).

At that time, the HCRA said that Albion had a “history of non-compliance with provincial rules and laws,” citing the fact that the company had been convicted in 2022 by the Ontario Court of Justice of failing to enrol 11 new homes with the Tarion warranty program. Albion was sentenced to a total fine of $206,250, which the HCRA said had yet to be paid. The HCRA additionally revealed that Albion was convicted for failing to enrol new homes with Tarion in 2016 and 2019.

Hossain told STOREYS in a statement at that time that Albion applied to enrol 15 homes under Tarion in 2021, but that only five were approved. Hossain said he requested to increase the number of homes approved, but the process “took months” leaving him “no choice just to build” to appease Albion’s growing client-base. However, court documents from the Licence Appeal Tribunal show that Albion applied to enrol 12 homes in 2021, and was approved for 12. The company applied to enrol 12 homes in 2020 and was approved for five.

In March 2024, Albion’s name was embroiled in another bout of controversy through the HCRA after the company’s two principals — Zamal Hossain and Farida Haque — were caught applying for a building licence under the guise of Dynasty Home Builders Inc. That same month, the HCRA took further action against Albion, announcing on March 19 that they had issued a freeze order over all of Albion’s assets, prohibiting the company from withdrawing or using funds it received from purchasers, and requiring any funds to be held in trust. The freeze order was in effect when the search warrant was executed in February.

Prior to this occasion, the HCRA had issued a freeze order in just one other instance since its launch in 2021. In February 2023, the provincial regulator froze all assets of Highbridge Construction after the Ottawa-based company “abruptly” ceased operations while it had at least five projects underway.

STOREYS has reached out to Albion for comment on these proceedings, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.