Ontario company faces 124 charges in homebuilding regulator’s ‘largest investigation’ ever
Albion Building Consultant Inc., also known as Albion Builders or simply Albion, had its licence to build and sell homes in Ontario revoked in February 2023.
An Ontario homebuilding company, Albion Building Consultant Inc., is now facing 124 charges after being found to have illegally built homes without authorization.
Albion, also known as Albion Builders or simply Albion, had its license to construct and sell homes in Ontario revoked in February 2023. Despite this, the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) suspected the company was still active in homebuilding. Following a search warrant executed over the winter at Albion’s offices, thousands of company documents were seized.
Based on the evidence obtained, the HCRA has now laid 124 new charges against Albion and five of its business associates. These charges pertain to the construction of 40 new homes and include illegal building and selling, failure to enrol homes, failure to comply with conditions, and being a party to an offence.
“This is the largest investigation in the HCRA’s history,” the regulator stated.
The HCRA is also seeking a restraining order to stop Albion from further illegal activity and protect consumers.
“Albion has consistently violated the laws governing new home construction,” said Wendy Moir, CEO and registrar of the HCRA. She emphasized that the regulator would continue to increase penalties on Albion until it ceases to put the public at risk. “Thousands of builders in Ontario operate ethically and legally. We can’t let companies like Albion undermine the industry’s integrity and compromise public safety.”
In 2024, the HCRA issued a freeze order, preventing Albion from accessing purchasers’ funds and requiring those funds to be held in trust.
Albion is operated by Zamal Hossain and his wife, Farida Haque. In 2022, the company was convicted for failing to enrol new homes in the Tarion warranty program, as required by law, and fined over $200,000 for illegal building.
Hossain was personally convicted of acting as an officer in a company that failed to enrol homes, while Haque was convicted of selling new homes without being licensed. Albion and its directors had previously been convicted of similar offenses in 2016 and 2019, according to the HCRA.
In February 2023, during an interview with Global News, Hossain admitted to breaking the law. “Yes, I broke the law. Anything else?” he said, acknowledging his failure to register warranties with, “One hundred per cent, I agree with that.”
