Rose Country Developments Ltd

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2014/05/22) */
Contact Name and Title: *** *** GM
Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: **@rosecountry.ca
Customer claims he bought the house with the condition that a developed suite would be completed within daysI asked various
staff, our construction manager & the Real Estate agent we hired to list this property if they told our Customer of a time frameNo one recalls giving a time frameOur Listing agent told me today he informed the Buyer's agent that due to the unfavorable conditions in McMurray for application process & trade availability not to give a time frame
Our Customer claims Rose Country lied to him regarding the delay of the Development Permit because of the parking padIt is likely our Customer saw the original application submitted & the final approved permit & noted that the approved permit is based on the original applicationIt is understood how our Customer concluded that he was lied too based on only this information
However in our correspondence history is shows the original application was rejected by the Development Officer *** in Planning & Development @ the RMWBHer reason was the driveway plan did not meet the guidelinesRose Country's drafting department *** did not agree with the rejectionHe corresponded with *** to determine what she neededHe revised & re submitted & was rejected a second timeHe again corresponded with *** & it was again rejected
*** suggested *** was incorrectly reading the plans*** requested someone else from Rose Country look into itI called RMWB P&D & requested that someone else review the original plot plan submittedWithin a few days the development permit was approvedWe have multiple e-mail correspondence to back up our claim
Our Customer's remark the trades were working on his house only in their spare timeI cannot find any evidence to concur
Regarding the electricity being used to construct the basement suiteThis is a standard practice in housing construction in my years of buildingI have never received a complaint on this matterOur Customer could have asked us about it when construction began or at any time prior to his ComplaintHe used our company construction dumpster (Located a few lots over from his) without our permission & he, being a bylaw member with the RMWB knows full well the bylaws prohibit this yet Rose Country did not ask him to reimburse us
Our Customer suggests it took us months to fix some doorsI discussed this with our construction manager and he informed me he was told by our Customer about this issue & advised our Customer he would get to it when he could and that our Customer told him there was no rush because there was no one living there*** I issued an e-mail to *** on May 8/that reads; "Good morning ***We will take care of the matters at hand that require immediate attentionI will better inform *** that warranty issues that compile in the one year are things like minor drywall cracking, nail pops, minor door adjustments etc
Doors not closing & major concerns need to be addressed in a timely fashion
Sorry for the misunderstanding between us & *** that caused you frustration & concern."
Our Customer claims he has an e-mail with an attached plot plan with a driveway layout showing parking spaces wide & in the e-mail it suggests the parking plan could & would be doneI called our Customer today & asked him to send that e-mail to me for reviewHe e-mailed itThere was a preliminary drawing that shows a wide parking space & identifies that *** who works in our Real Estate department e-mailed it to the Listing agentIt identifies the listing agent e-mailed it on Oct 30/to our Customer's agent & his agent e-mailed it to him same dayI read the e-mail history & the only statement made which was between *** & ***, the listing agent was as follows; Good afternoon ***; Here is the plot plan with the revision for the parking padIt will work with spots but just barelyThere will not be any extra room there as you can see on the drawingPlease take a look & show the buyer if they are interested in going wide as opposed to the deeper pad
There is no statement in any section of this e-mail history that claims the driveway would be done like this plan showsAlso, this plan was a rendition for the customer's review because that is what he was asking for & this particular plan was never used by Rose Country when making application for the development permit as *** (Rose Country's in-house drafter) knew it would not work
I have exhausted my research to find other e-mails prior to or after the e-mail history mentioned above to validate our Customer's claim that the parking pad would be done as he suggests
Our Customer remarks "To add insult to injury, I find out that Rose Country was only willing to put a gravel pad inIn the Residential Purchase Contract it states under the heading;
THE PROPERTY & Sub section "No Unattached Goods (chattels) except for: $4,Appliance Credit, Complete Front and Back Landscaping, Lot grading, Sod, Walkway, Tree and Gravel Parking Pad
And again in the Sales Summary dated October 28/there is a notation under the heading "Included in Sale"
- Gravel parking pad
The gravel parking pad was not a matter of what Rose Country was willing to do but is what the buyer agreed to
Furthermore, the approved permits for the construction of this duplex, as well as for the legal basement suite were without hard surface parking on the propertyThe Builder is not required to complete certain scopes of work in the back/side yards such as fences, parking pads, landscaping to sell a propertyWithin the "Architectural Guidelines &/or "Restrictive Covenants & Land use Bylaws there may be specific guidelines for property owners to complete various aspects of their property development within a specified time frame & it is the responsibility of the agent who is representing the buyer to give all information to the buyer
***
The Customer's Desired Resolution
- Explanation of why I was told three across- See Point 6/
- Why, when the building permit was issued- See point
- Why two complete houses have been built on my street- We constructed (are constructing) six duplex buildings in a rowOne being our Customer'sExcavation began on each job as follows; 221/Mar 4/& substantially completed Aug 9/229/Feb 28/& substantially completed mid-Sep 237/Apr 28/& substantially completed Oct 2/
245/Apr 28/& substantially completed Oct 15/253/Sep 11/& substantially completed Feb 18/261/Jan23/Work progress was stopped at lock up as of May 7, until sales pick upCustomer's statement is not valid
- Acknowledgement that my front sidewalk- It will be reviewed to determine if it will be a fixable item because exterior concrete work is not covered under the builders warranteeExceptions in cases of extensive damage
- Fix the broken counter top- The counter top is not brokenOur construction manager confirms the sub-contractor did not glue itWe expect to have this rectified by May 31/
- A workable solution to my backyard issue- See point 6/
- An answer why the development plan for- See point6/
- An apology for all the misinformation- Refer to all points aboveRose Country's opinion is it has not made any misrepresentations to our Customer
- ...my basement suite finished so I can start generating the rent- I discussed with our Customer today that the inside is expected to be completed on May 31,
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 14, 2014/06/17) */
Some of my issues have been dealt with but I will go through them again
Issue 1: I purchased this house October 9,on the condition that a legal one bedroom suite would be built as part of the dealI was told it would take days to build from the issuance of the building permit with was issued January 9th ( if not for two filing errors by Rose Country it would have been mid December)Then the local project manager took a very relaxed approach to actually building the suite and it was finally finished June 1stI am actively marketing it to get a tenant July 1st now although the original plan was May 1st which I felt was very conservative thinkingSo I am out months rent
Issue 2: When I bought the house I was promised that the parking spots for the house would be across the back lane minimizing the use of the whole backyard for parking which was a issue for me as my family has a large dog and needed to put a dog run inRose Country went so far as to supply me with a yard plan showing this as accomplished which it was notI had planned to pave this triple pad as spring broke so I contacted the planning department here to ensure there were no additional permits needed and was told I could not do the parking as promised and in fact Rose Country never even filed the plans with the city as they would have been rejectedA further conversation with planning also told me that Rose Country's original plan to put a gravel parking pad violated the covenants covering the area
Issue 3: At no point was it ever disclosed to me that I would be required to take on extra cost for cement as Rose Country had told me they were supplying me with both front and back yard and triple padI was working on the premise of the move to concrete being my own preference but after discussing this with IBI I found out that I could be sued for the way Rose Country was selling homes in Heritage LandingAt no point did anyone form Rose Country or its real estate representatives disclose to me personally that the gravel pad was a stop gap measure and I would need to upgrade this within years of possessionI did find this out through the documentation provided form the lawyer on closing but this was after living in this house for months already
Issue 4: There are various warrantee issues with the house and although there has been some movement to correct them I continue to be concerned at the timeliness of these repairs
Issue 5: No yard has been installed yetAs I mentioned earlier I purchased this home October 9th which allowed Rose Country weeks before first snow to put a yard in (and the pad for that matter) and months since the snow left to put my yard inIt is now June 15th and this has not happened despite the fact that I see other builders homes that were basically basements still when I bought mine that now have completed landscaping
My lawyer offered to send them a complementary letter to them at no cost outlining my concerns on my behalf which did result in a phone call from their vice president *** asking about their erroneous parking plans that had been provided to me which did cause me some hope that things were finally being dealt with but that was short lived as after being patient for a response I began e-mailing and phoning at the end of the week before last to *** again to no availHe did e-mail me Saturday morning to say the warranty issues would be dealt with this week but no response to the parking issue has been forwarded
Overall I do like this house as it seems to be well conceived, has an excellent floor plan, and the basement suite has turned out to be quite attractive and I really have no appetite to sue Rose CountryHowever the delays in construction of the suite, the fact it was suppose to be at no cost to me yet I have the inflated electric bills for construction as instead of using a generator they used my power to build it, the slowness of building my pad and yard which is making it difficult to rent the suite, the fact I no longer will have a backyard for my dog and the fact that I am now required instead of just choosing to have a concrete pad at a cost of about $13,combined with the poor customer service given the utter lack of communication on their part extremely disappointing
***
***
Thanks
***

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/04/11) */
I am writing to you in regard to the home of *** ***
There have been some miscommunications that have happened over the past
few months between the customer and myself
Some items that I understood to have been finished in his
home have not
been completed
*** has had contact with me by phone in the past and does have my phone
numberHowever he has not called
I sent *** an email with a list of items for him to update me on back
in January
I did not receive any replies either by email or by phone until after he
had contacted The Revdex.com
After I received the list of items still remaining to be done I
immediately tried to contact him to book a time when these things can be
looked after
I did not succeed in contacting him for a couple of days but I did leave
phone messages and sent an email
When I did get hold of him we booked a day to address the issues
Myself as well as plumbers are scheduled to work on ***'s house on
Friday, April 11,
Thank you
Sincerely,
***
Customer Service
Rose Country Developments
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/04/14) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I do not accept this response from the business for the following reasons:
I am still awaiting compensation as promised by *** of RCD of $1,
I have valid emails of conversations held about outstanding issues I have been trying to have addressed up until January 23rd being the last contact
I sent a e-mail directly to *** prior to filing with the Revdex.com, and only after I filled he responded with me in a CC to *** showing my original email to him on March 23rd
I have no phone messages nor missed calls from anyone recognized as being from RCDMy monthly phone records reflect this
"Some items that I understood to have been finished in his home have not been completed."
*** has known about the deficiencies since the month of November as he personally was in the house to inspect and review my issuesIf there was any miscommunication, it was between *** and his subordinates as we haven't been in touch from end of January to March
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/04/28) */
Good morning, ***,
I am responding to your letter regarding the above case*** has some
valid points but in our defence would clarify that it was agreed that the
cheque for $would be issued when all other deficiencies were dealt
withThere were also additional items that *** had added to the
original list discussed with ***We do not understand why *** has
no record of missed calls as we have record of emails and calls to him
*** had ***'s phone number and email address and knew that *** was
dealing with the deficiency and warranty items but *** was not contacted
Having said all this, all the outstanding items are now completed to
***'s satisfaction and he has signed the attached sheet confirming
thisAlso attached is a copy of our cheque to *** in payment of the
$as all other items are now complete
Thank you,
***
Assistant to *** ***
Rose Country Developments Ltd
***