Uncertainty lingers for Niverville home buyers as Winnipeg builder faces 'financial difficulty'

Fine Haus starts court proceedings Manitoba home builder Fine Haus has started insolvency proceedings. CTV's Josh Crabb has more on what this means for customers.

WINNIPEG — A Manitoba home builder has started an insolvency proceeding in court leaving several of its customers looking for answers.

Late last week a judge granted a limited receivership order for Winnipeg-based Fine Haus Building Company.

According to court documents, the company was in the process of building 20 homes when it ran into financial difficulty.

A mix of empty lots, partially-finished new home builds and some completed homes lines Briarfield Court in Niverville – homes that came with a price tag of between $279,000 and $315,000.

Some people who purchased the homes from Fine Haus have moved in.  Others are still waiting for construction to start on homes they've made down payments on.  But it's unclear whether that will ever happen, according to a recent application filed by the company under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench.

A sworn affidavit in the application made by Fortunella Sevilla, an individual who identified themselves as a former Fine Haus employee and a director of a numbered company Fine Haus operates under, states: “Fine Haus has encountered financial difficulty.  As a result there are several units in various stages of construction that Fine Haus is unable to complete.

“I fear that in the event that there is no ability of Fine Haus to complete its various contracts and close on the sale of the various units, many people and businesses will be greatly affected and suffer substantial financial losses.”

Work stopped on the Fine Haus homes earlier this fall and uncertainty about what will happen next has been swirling ever since, according to several sources who spoke with CTV News on the condition of anonymity.

The homes that were supposed to be built by Fine Haus were set to be part of a new 1000-lot housing development in Niverville owned by a different company, a development firm called Fifth Avenue Estates.  Its owner, Cornell Friesen, told CTV News last month he agreed to sell Fine Haus 21 lots but only received payment for eight.

Friesen said despite that, Fine Haus had purchasing agreements in place with buyers for homes to be built on lots Fine Haus didn't even own.

"My biggest concern is that people don't paint all the builders with the same brush because we've never heard of it in 20, 30, 40 years,” said Friesen.  “People have never heard of something like this happening."

Friesen said the eight lots Fine Haus paid for have homes on them at various stages of construction; 13 other lots remain empty.

CTV News reached out to multiple buyers, but no one has agreed speak on the record, citing concerns over a clause in their contract with Fine Haus which states they're not allowed to say anything about the quality of their build or the company.

Niverville isn't the only place where concerns have been raised about the same builder operating as My Manitoba Family Homes.

The same numbered company listed in the receivership application was ordered Monday by small claims court in Steinbach to pay Kevin Smith $8,700.  It follows concerns Smith raised about the quality of work of a house built for him in Kleefeld, Man. by the same company in 2017.

Smith said he paid out of pocket to fix deficient stucco and grading work and is now trying to recover his money.

"I'm kind of one of the lucky ones,” Smith told CTV outside court in Steinbach.  “It's only money, obviously gotta pay the bills, but my house is done."

Even though the court ruled in his favour, Smith's lawyer Mathieu Lafreniere said it's not guaranteed his client will ever see that money given the company's current financial situation.

"The likelihood of collecting is minimal,” said Lafreniere.

CTV news made multiple requests for comment to Fine Haus and to its owner Jason Cianflone but we have not received a response.

CTV visited the company's former office space on Scurfield Blvd. last month but we were told it has vacated the space.

A lawyer representing the company declined to comment Monday when asked about the insolvency proceeding.

According to court documents there was supposed to be a meeting Monday to finalize the receivership order.