Ont. legal experts pushing to close loophole that allows scammers to mortgage homes without victims’ knowledge
CTV
The intricate scams usually target seniors and have resulted in some people losing their homes.
Police forces and legal experts in Ontario are pushing for the provincial government to make legislative changes that would reduce elaborate fraud scams targeting homeowners.
The scams started years ago when illegitimate HVAC companies went door to door selling products to homeowners – typically seniors. Sales for items like air conditioners and furnaces eventually resulted in companies placing Notice of Security Interests (NOSI) on the properties without the homeowners knowing.
A NOSI binds homeowners to a contract they must pay before they can sell or refinance their home.
“With the old 15 or 10 years ago HVAC liens scams, we were looking at dollar amounts in the thousands or the low tens of thousands,” lawyer Dennis Crawford said.
Over the past few years, those scams have evolved. In some cases, police say scammers started looping back and convincing homeowners with NOSIs on their property to sign additional contracts to help pay the existing NOSI off. The victims didn’t know it, but they were agreeing to mortgages.
“Salesmen go to the houses of older Ontarians and effectively bully, browbeat, coerce or otherwise dupe them into signing documents which are misrepresented to the homeowner, but turn out to be contracts to put mortgages on their house,” Crawford said.
“With the mortgage fraud scheme that is proliferating now, we are seeing mortgages in the tens of thousands or even into the hundreds of thousands. I have some clients with quarter-million-dollar mortgages on their houses which they didn’t know were mortgages when they were signing the paperwork.”
