Lawsuits, unpaid bills pile up for out-of-town landlord scolded by city council

Amanda Wheeler has been living with uncertainty ever since her downtown apartment building was issued a disconnection notice by Enbridge last month due to non-payment. 

The gas company is leaning on the landlord to pay $4,345.16 in arrears — immediately — in order to avoid a scheduled disruption in service, which would leave Wheeler without heat, hot water and use of the dryer at some point this week. 

During a recent tour of the building, the 23-year-old tenant told SooToday the potential disconnection of the natural gas supply has already led to a couple of tenants moving out of the building for good.   

“I just want something to be done,” said Wheeler, as tears rolled down her face. “I just want to feel like they’re at least considering what we’re going through because of their neglect.”

For Wheeler, it’s been one issue after another since CPM Properties took over as property manager last year: She pointed out a number of nagging problems in the six-unit building, including holes in both the ceilings and the uneven floors, in addition to the visible presence of mould in some areas. 

She says CPM Properties has ignored the majority of her concerns surrounding her building, located in the 700 block of Wellington Street East. Wheeler has even offered to perform maintenance and upkeep at the apartment building for a negotiated fee, but has yet to hear back from the property manager.  

“It’s a never ending list of things that aren’t being done that could be done — that could be fixed easily — to prevent so many other things from happening,” she said. 

Provincial land registry records show that 1000345841 Ontario Inc. purchased the downtown property for $675,000 in late March of last year.  

Corporation documents list Nels Moxness as director of the numbered company, which has the same registered address as several of his other numbered companies with real estate holdings in the Sault: 1 Hunter St. E. in Hamilton. 

As extensively reported by SooToday, Moxness — who is co-director of CPM Properties alongside his son, Mathew Moxness — used more than two dozen numbered companies to swoop in and buy up at least 130 properties in Sault Ste. Marie, many of them in the city’s downtown core, after housing prices plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Lion’s Share Group, a mortgage broker in southern Ontario founded by Claire Drage, entered receivership in March after issuing hundreds of promissory notes — a way of getting loans without the aid of a financial institution — to several real estate investors, Moxness included.  

Court documents reveal that Moxness acted as guarantor for more than 600 promissory notes, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, just in the Sault alone.   

But the Moxness-led real estate dealings in Sault Ste. Marie has left several tenants feeling frustrated.      

Like others who have reached out to SooToday in the past, Wheeler didn’t even know who her new landlord was until weeks after the property had changed hands. That, combined with lingering maintenance issues that never seem to be addressed, has led to speculation among tenants that CPM Properties is attempting to push them out of their respective rental units.   

“We got slapped with an email saying that if we didn’t pay rent immediately, they will have to take legal action or evict you,” recalled Wheeler. “That was very, very stressful.” 

Yet, the real estate empire built up by the Moxness family appears only to be expanding, despite leaving a trail of disgruntled tenants and derelict properties throughout Sault Ste. Marie.     

In March, city council approved a zoning application from Mathew Moxness and Allard SSM Inc., making way for a new five-storey, 47-unit apartment building on the former Red Cross property located at 105 Allard Street.  

But it was apparent that council had very little interest in approving the application. 

“I don’t think we have the jurisdiction to deny this application — in fact, I’m sure we don’t have the jurisdiction, based on the responses I’ve seen from the legal department this weekend to deny this application, based on other failures to comply with bylaws by this applicant,” Sault Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said at the time. 

Although the zoning application was eventually approved, members of council didn’t let the real estate developer off the hook when it came to his family’s track record of owning dozens of derelict, boarded-up homes around town. 

“We haven’t had much of a chance to speak directly to you, and so you’re hearing it from us tonight — and I hope you’re hearing it loud and clear, because it is frustrating and unacceptable in the type of property maintenance that you allow to take hold at your many holdings in the community is frankly deplorable,” the mayor said to Mathew Moxness, who appeared before council virtually in March. 

It was during the same council meeting that Mathew Moxness blamed drugs and homelessness for the derelict properties. “We’ve taken on certain challenges, and I don’t think anybody can deny that certain areas in town have challenges in terms of homelessness, drugs and other issues — and that’s really all I’ll say,” Mathew Moxness told council at the time.  

Council members and tenants aren’t the only ones who are unhappy with Moxness’ business dealings in the Sault: In all, a dozen lawsuits — totalling more than $2.4 million — have been filed against Moxness and his numbered companies in Ontario Superior Court in Sault Ste. Marie since 2022, seeking both repayment of mortgages and repossession of the properties in many instances. The bulk of those allegations have not been proven in court. 

Neither Nels nor Mathew Moxness responded to messages left by SooToday Tuesday.  

Back on Wellington Street East, a lockbox has recently appeared at Wheeler’s apartment building, leaving her with even more uncertainty around her living situation there.  

“Are we getting new owners? Is the place being taken over by the bank? I don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “If somebody does take over, I want to be able to at least meet them, because having somebody that doesn’t live in the city owning apartment buildings is so difficult. They can just ignore you, without a care in the world. 

“It’s like you don’t even exist, because they’re off doing other things in the city that they live in down south, while everybody in Sault Ste. Marie that lives in one of their buildings is just suffering.” 

Algoma Community Legal Clinic offers free legal advice to renters who meet its financial eligibility criteria, but the financial guidelines are not considered when the staff provides only summary advice. The clinic can be reached at 705-942-4900 for more information.