Creditors have chased owner of condemned rowhouses for years, court records show

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This article was published 19/04/2024 (508 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The man at the centre of an appeal to save a crumbling row of townhouses in the Lord Roberts neighbourhood has faced legal troubles in recent years, with allegations of unpaid vendors, mounting utility bills and deceptive realty dealings.

Alen Planincic owns property on the 300 block of Arnold Avenue currently subject to a city-imposed vacancy order citing unsafe and unsanitary living conditions. He is scheduled to appear at an appeal hearing before the property and planning committee Monday.

The building has drawn the ire of nearby residents, who describe it as a magnet for crime, drug use and filth with little to no oversight from Planincic or Rahim Mirza, the realtor he formerly referred to as his property manager.

Mirza has denied he was ever tasked with managing the townhouses and was simply a listing agent. He has cut all ties with the Arnold property, he said.

“My portfolio that I hold, that I put my name to, speaks for itself. If you’re looking at the Arnold Avenue portfolio, that is not my portfolio. None of those tenants are my tenants, those are Mr. Planincic’s tenants. There’s no connection, there’s no overlap,” he told the Free Press Thursday.

Planincic could not be reached for comment.

A review of provincial court records shows creditors have hounded Planincic since 2017, claiming thousands of dollars in unpaid or withheld debts.

A small claims lawsuit, settled in July 2022, ruled in favour of a couple who alleged Planincic attempted to sell them a damaged home and then withheld repayment of a purchase deposit when they backed out.

According to the claim, Mirza, who was then working for Royal Lepage Dynamic Real Estate, arranged the sale of the property at 446 Maryland St. in October 2017, setting a possession date at the end of the following month.

The buyers were concerned about “substantial damage to the property” caused by burst water pipes, but “Planincic, through his lawyer, advised that he was fixing the damage and it would not be an issue prior to possession,” the court document says.

The claimants pulled out of the deal days before they were set to take possession after discovering that “water continued to leak within the property” damaging the structure’s floor, ceiling and walls.

Planincic allegedly withheld a $5,000 deposit.

Mirza said Planincic had in fact replaced all of the plumbing in the property and the decision to retain the deposit was motivated by advice from Planincic’s lawyer, who suggested the couple may have violated their purchasing agreement and, therefore, forfeited their deposit.

The couple named both Planincic and Royal Lepage in their suit, but later dismissed their claim against the real estate company. The suit did not contain any claims against Mirza.

After repeatedly failing to serve Planincic with related legal documents, the court resorted to taking out an advertisement in the Winnipeg Sun, alerting him to a June 2022 hearing. He did not show up and a court officer ordered him to repay the deposit.

The Manitoba Securities Commission temporarily suspended Mirza’s real estate licence in January, after a settlement agreement in which he admitted to knowingly selling a condo with a compromised foundation, ultimately costing the buyer $34,535 in repairs.

A Manitoba Financial Services Agency document detailing the settlement agreement notes Mirza expressed sincere remorse for the incident. He settled with the buyer for an undisclosed amount and was ordered to pay an additional $6,000 to the commission.

Mirza recently filed a lawsuit of his own against a contractor who he says “falsely and maliciously” defamed him.

The civil claim, filed last October in Court of King’s Bench, cites a Facebook post made by a contractor who alleged Mirza failed to pay him more than $9,000 for spring 2023 repairs to the roof of the Arnold Avenue property.

Mirza said he was surprised when the contractor who made the allegations reached out to him asking for payment. He believes Planincic paid the man for his work.

“I put that roofer in contact with Mr. Planincic simply as a referral,” Mirza said. “Just to be abundantly clear, they do not do work for me, nor my company. Nor have they ever been retained by my company. I have no paperwork with this person, no signatures — it’s no different from me saying, ‘Hey, I know a mechanic.”

Mirza’s lawsuit targets the contractor, his wife and two other Winnipeg residents who wrote similar allegations in online reviews or shared the post on social media.

He is seeking general damages, saying the allegations have contributed to a loss of “clientele, reputation and business interests.”

At least two of the defendants have filed statements of defence in which they reiterate their accusations against Mirza and deny the comments were defamatory.

The lawyer representing both defendants declined to comment on the case.

Last March, Manitoba Hydro filed a claim against Planincic seeking more than $12,000 for unpaid utilities accrued at the Arnold property between June 2021 and February 2023.

He failed to appear at a subsequent hearing, prompting the court to rule in favour of Hydro. Planincic was ordered to repay roughly $2,500.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca