City releases long list of owners of derelict properties

City of Sault Ste. Marie's legal and building staff have released two spreadsheets detailing their aggressive crackdown in recent months on derelict vacant properties.

The first spreadsheet lists the 73 completed Provincial Offences Court matters related to vacant properties, as of Sept. 25, 2024.

For each case, it lists the property address, the name of the corporation or whether the registered owner was an individual, and the court outcome.

The second spreadsheet lists 50 active Building Code Act charges currently in Provincial Offences Court, updated as of Sept. 25.

Copies of both spreadsheets can be viewed in the photo gallery above.

Many of the properties and owners are familiar to SooToday readers from months of investigative coverage based on court records and other sources.

But this is the first time city staff have released a comprehensive summary of their enforcement efforts.

"Each of these matters involved a charge issued to the registered property owner under the Building Code Act for failing to comply with an order to remedy by not abiding by the requirements for a vacant property," say Jenna Ricard, city prosecutor, and Francois Couture, manager of building and bylaw.

"For privacy concerns, any registered owner that is an individual has had their name removed from the spreadsheet," Ricard and Couture say in a report to Mayor Matthew Shoemaker and city councillors.

"The city will invoke any means necessary to collect these fines and other fines by registering unpaid fines against locally owned property and other available legal collection means," the report says.

"There are several completed matters listed in the vacant property spreadsheet where the registered owner plead to the charge and received a monetary fine under $1,000.

"In these cases, the property was no longer vacant with the property now being tenanted and therefore prosecutorial discretion was applied that ensures deterrence.

"The deterrence being that the registered owners of these properties understand there will be consequences for not abiding by the requirements of vacant properties. A vacant property being occupied aligns with a strategic focus of all levels of government to address the housing crisis," the report states.

"The building division and the solicitor/prosecutor will continue to focus on enforcement and the prosecution against owners of vacant properties in our community.

"Fines will continue to be imposed when a conviction or a guilty plea to the charge is registered in Provincial Offences Court to serve the principle of deterrence."