Banned from Selling Condos, Fined $7.4M

It’s nice to see that some developers can actually get fined and permanently banned from selling condos (but see below) when they make distasteful actions.

In 2008 Yair Levy and YL Reactor Street, LLC emptied the reserve of Reactor Square Condominium in NY State, failed to make payments in lieu of taxes, and abandoned the property without heat or hot water in the winter of 2008.

Three years later, Levy and YL Reactor Street, LLC may not sell or market condominiums and were levied over $7.4M (USD) in fines, including penalties.

What’s sad is three fold – it takes years to resolve these issues, it is likely that the condominium will never receive any money, and (most importantly) that Yair could simply set up show in a different state. Even though issued by the New York Supreme Count (29 June 2011), that wouldn’t stop Yair from operating in another state.

I would counter, that given a strong ruling but an ineffectual process to either collect or limit the defendant’s action – why don’t we have national based rulings and enforcement. In Canada, we have seen similar issues with BC banned developers simply pick up shop and move across the border to Alberta. It always seems that the system is so in favour of not interfering with developers, that we continually put the purchasers at risk.

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