Winnipeg couple win long legal battle to keep their home

A Winnipeg couple have won a more than decade-long legal battle to keep title to their home.

Venni and Rosa Sartor have been fighting the case since 2007, saying they were swindled out of title to their West Kildonan home by local businessman Richard Boon.

Thecouple sued Boonalleging he used "fraudulent misrepresentations and fraud" to get them to sign an agreement that saw him take over their mortgage when the couple ran into financial difficulties and risked losing their home to foreclosure in 2004.

Boon later counter-sued, seeking payment of the outstanding balance under the mortgage.

The two cases werejoined and Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Justice Colleen Suche delivered her joint verdict Nov. 6, giving the Sartors title to the home and ordering Boon to pay the couple $30,000 in punitive damages plus court costs.

"In my view, Boon's actions represent a marked departure from ordinary standards of decent behaviour," said Suche in her 29-page decision.

"His practice of seeking out the financially vulnerable has the hallmark of a predator; his suggestion to the Sartors that he was offering help was disingenuous in fact, he was acting in aggressive pursuit of his self-interest."

Unsolicited calls

Boon admits he found out about the Sartors' looming foreclosure by going through records at the land registry office.

Shortly after that, the Sartors began getting unsolicited calls from Boon while they were facing foreclosure, offering to take over the remaining $38,395 on their mortgage.

Desperate to keep their home, the Sartors agreed to the deal, which saw the couple pay $600 a month at an interest rate of 9.25 per cent. Boon was also to pay property taxes under the deal.

The Sartors' lawyer, James Beddome, said in court Boon drafted documents which the couple did not read, instead relying on Boon's explanation of what the documents were before signing.

Those documents included a transfer of title of the Sartors' home to a numbered company controlled by Boon and a caveat on the property which purported to be an offer from the couple to sell their home to Boon for $38,500.

The Sartors say they were never told they were signing over title of their home and never agreed to sell the home.

Ultimately, and unbeknownst to the Sartors, the transfer was not allowed when the land registry office found the sale amount to be "materially lower than the fair market value of the property."

After paying approximately $14,400 to Boon for the next two years the couple say they received a bill totalling just over $8,000 for unpaid property taxes and a warning from the city that their home was about to be sold at a tax sale.

When the Sartors paid the bill they learned about the offer to purchase and that Boon had registered a transfer of their title.

The couple stopped paying their monthly payments to Boon in 2008 after they filed their suit, arguing he had breached their agreement by not paying the property taxes.

Winnipeg woman warns financially distressed homeowners about man offering help

10 years ago

Duration 2:50

A Winnipeg woman is warning people who get behind on their mortgages and property taxes to be careful of anyone approaching them and offering help.

They have continued to live in the home during the years of court proceedings.

Boon's counter-suit, launched in 2014, asked for a judgment of $71,316.44 from the Sartors and possession of the property, claiming the Sartors defaulted by stopping their payments.

In her decision Suche ordered the Sartors to pay Boon's numbered company the $27,830 remaining on their mortgage plus simple interest at 9.25 per cent.

"Admittedly, the Sartors were not entitled to stop making mortgage payments and self-help remedies are not to be encouraged," she wrote.

Neither Boon nor the Sartors agreed to speak to CBC News.

A history with the courts

The case is among several disputed real estate deals that have seen Boon and his Daylight Capital Corporation taken to court over the years.

Dozens of Winnipeg homeowners have transferred title of their homes to Boon and his associated companies for more than a decade. His business involves searching public land and tax registries to find people on the verge of losing their homes, then offering to lend them money.

While it's not illegal for Boon to operate in this way, many of his clients, like the Sartors, have taken him to court to regain ownership of their homes.

Gerhard and Lydia Storm speak to CBC News about the arrangement in 2006

7 years ago

Duration 5:38

In 2004, Gerhard and Lydia Storm were struggling to keep up with some mortgage payments they had fallen behind on $4,000 in arrears when they say they received a call from Richard Boon saying he could help.

In 2006 Manitoba's land registry office told CBC News Boon had talked 69 people into transferring ownership of their homes over to him in exchange for help paying their mortgages over the six previous years.

That year the land registry office simply stopped processing Boon's land transfers preventing him from taking ownership after determining many of Boon's clients didn't understand what they were doing.

In her decision Suche said she orderedBoon to pay damages in partto dissuade him and others from making similar deals in the future.

"The Sartors were very vulnerable and they were directly targeted by (Boon's) actions," she wrote.

"Nothing in the evidence suggests that Boon will face any other consequences for his actions, and he and others who might choose to engage in this kind of business practice need to be deterred."