East Street apartment owner now owes $164K in unpaid fines

The owner of an apartment building in downtown Sault Ste. Marie has yet to pay $95,000 in fines after being found guilty of several Ontario Fire Code violations last month. 

And that doesn't even include all of the unpaid fines and related court costs dating back to 2018.

According to information provided by provincial offences court, the southern Ontario-based owner of 138 East Street now owes $119,350.00 in fines — a 25 per cent victim surcharge and $35 in court costs for each offence has been tacked onto the initial $95,000 in fines — stemming from eight fire code infractions.  

As previously reported by SooToday, court documents available to the public list the owner of the property as Asimco Textiles Inc., a company based in New Lowell, Ont., which originally purchased the building in March 2013 for $260,000. 

Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services did not name the property owner when it issued a news release about the Ontario Fire Code fines last month.  

Asimco Textiles was found guilty of all eight provincial fire code offences on June 7 — the company initially pleaded not guilty to all counts earlier this year — and was given 15 days to pay the fines and placed on 12 months probation.

Here is a breakdown of the violations and their corresponding fines:

• Building fire alarm system not inspected for annual service requirements ($20,000)
• Failure to inspect and service all hose cabinets in building annually ($5,000) 
• Annual inspections of fire extinguishers not performed ($10,000)
• Failing to check fire alarm system daily for issues ($20,000)
• Annual testing of emergency lights not performed ($10,000)
• Ceiling fire separation not maintained ($5,000)
• Smoke alarms not checked annually ($20,000)
• Improper storage of combustible materials ($5,000)

Asim Bhatti, the president and sole director of Asimco Textiles, told SooToday during an interview last month that he planned on appealing the fines.

“All of these fire violations have been rectified completely, and have been for several months,” Bhatti said at the time. “So obviously, we’re going to need to deal with this as an appeal.” 

Additional information provided by the local provincial offences court, meanwhile, shows Asimco Textiles still owes another $44,691 in unpaid fines under the Provincial Offences Act for other property-related infractions dating back to 2018.

In all, the property owner currently owes more than $164,000 in unpaid fines.  

Provincial fines go into default 30 days after their due date. If fines remain unpaid 60 days after the default date, the provincial offences office can begin enforcement measures, and an enforcement date is set. 

If any outstanding fines are not paid up within 60 days after the enforcement date, they are then sent to a third-party collection agency retained by the City of Sault Ste. Marie.