TORONTO, June 23, 2020 /CNW/ – Bay Street law firm Robins Appleby LLP has assembled a seasonal, multidisciplinary commercial “Real Estate Workout + Enforcement Team” to help solve the shared problems of lenders, developers, contractors, landlords, and tenants suffering from the effects of COVID-19.
“Credit is either drying up or becoming extremely expensive,” said Leor Margulies, head of Robins Appleby’s Real Estate Group. A 30-year veteran of commercial real estate in Toronto, Mr. Margulies specializes in construction financing and residential/commercial development.
“Further, income producing properties, particularly retail and commercial ones, face loss of tenants and potential bankruptcies. If what is going on south of the border, particularly in New York City, is a portend to things to come, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.”
Irving Marks specializes in receivership and litigation: “There is a spectre of an explosion of receivership and CCAA proceedings occurring to deal with landlords unable to meet mortgage payments, retail chains unable to make payments or developers unable to complete projects due to cost overruns and delays, such as the Cresford situation. Lenders, borrowers and condominium purchasers will need some creative help in these challenging situations.”
There will be no easy solutions. On one side, there are lenders with commercial and residential projects experiencing both cost overruns and falling real estate values at the same time. On the other side, there are borrowers facing uncertain refinancing requirements or loan agreement breaches.
The ‘Real Estate Workout + Enforcement Team’ members can help in many ways:
Assist financial institutions to restructure problem assets, loans and related security;
Represent borrowers in negotiations with lenders for financing, refinancing and debt restructuring;
Provide owners/purchasers with guidance in acquiring/disposing real property in problem transactions;
Bring borrowers, lenders and potential equity partners together;
Structure innovative ownership vehicles, equity financing and other conventional financing;
Represent receivers, lenders, borrowers, purchaser groups and other stakeholders in enforcement and receivership proceedings;
Resolve disputes among property co-owners through negotiation or litigation; and
Provide tax planning advice to better manage declining asset values and debt restructuring.
“Government emergency measures implemented to defeat the virus are the first right answer. But the commercial real estate sector needs more specific kinds of help. Restructuring deals and projects is the second right answer. We are consciously looking for innovative solutions to problems for commercial real estate clients,” said Michael Gasch, partner at Robins Appleby, and a tax planning and restructuring lawyer.
A veteran of previous financial meltdowns, Mr. Margulies commented: “During the 2008-2009 financial crisis, financial and real estate markets came to a standstill for almost a year. During the 1990-1995 recession, real estate values fell anywhere from 25% for existing commercial properties or developments, to 50% or more for undeveloped land. What lies beyond COVID-19 is anyone’s guess.”
About Robins Appleby LLP
For nearly 70 years, Bay Street law firm Robins Appleby LLP has provided practical legal and business advice to entrepreneurs, businesses, financial institutions, and foreign companies conducting business in Canada. The firm specializes in business law, commercial lending and real estate development, estate & succession planning, litigation, and business tax. The firm has 30 lawyers plus support staff.
SOURCE Robins, Appleby & Taub LLP
For further information: Media Contact: Jana Schilder, The Legal A Team, Mobile (416) 831-9154, [email protected]
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
