Abel Chan didn’t expect to have to pay $11,000 in refinancing benefits for his home when he signed up to rent a water filter.
An Ottawa-area man rented a filter system in 2019 after a door-to-door salesman convinced him he was eligible for energy rebates and could lower his monthly bill.
Those savings never materialized, he said. That turned out to be the least of his problems.
When Cheung refinanced her home in 2021, she discovered a surprising hurdle. A notice of security interest (NOSI) was registered on his land title, which he had to repay before entering into a loan agreement.
“When I found out I had to pay $11,000 to clear the lien on my house, I felt really bad,” he said. “And I feel like those companies can actually do these things and get it done.”
the house10:09Possible crackdown on lien fraud in Ontario “crisis”
The Ontario government is trying to crack down on “bad actors” who take advantage of loopholes in a law meant to protect rental companies, but instead they’re targeting unsuspecting property owners with “bad actors.” A notice of security interest or lien at the level of “Crisis” has been imposed. The House of Commons meets with Ontario Business Services Minister Todd McCarthy, NDP critic Tom Rakocevic, lawyer Dennis Crawford, and victims of the practice, who say the new rules will protect consumers. I asked if it was.
NOSI is a lien instrument intended to provide a company with assurance that a contract will be paid. It typically remains attached to ownership until the contract is terminated or payment is made.
However, homeowners don’t always know when a NOSI was posted on their property. Cheung and his colleagues report that they first discovered the lien when the schedule for selling or refinancing their home became tighter. In many cases, these transactions do not close while NOSI is in place.
Feeling pressured, Cheung ultimately paid $11,000 to repay NOSI. This is much more than what similar water filter systems are sold for online.
His experience is part of a trend that Ontario Public and Business Services Delivery Minister Todd McCarthy said has entered a “crisis” situation.
To address so-called “abuse” of the NOSI system, the Ontario government recently passed amendments to the Consumer Protection Act that include measures to make it easier and faster to remove NOSIs. It also recently concluded a consultation on possible further measures and said it would act to prevent people from abusing the NOSI system.
“Doing nothing is not an option,” McCarthy said in an interview with CBC’s The House. “We will take action to address this, curb it and stop it being exploited by bad actors.”
CBC’s market has previously investigated NOSI matters, including Mr. Cheung’s case and the company he was involved with, Ontario Green Savings (OGS). Neither the company nor an attorney representing it responded to CBC’s requests for comment for this story. In the past, previous claims against the company have been dismissed as unfounded.
Attorney Dennis Crawford, who has handled dozens of cases similar to Chan’s, said many of the cases have commonalities. He said many of NOSI’s victims are older adults, new Canadians or those facing language barriers or challenges. They sign up for a rental agreement and without their knowledge he will be registered NOSI against their ownership.
“The problem comes when homeowners try to refinance or sell their homes,” he says. “Their attorney says, ‘Hey, there’s a lien on your house,’ and it’s often the first time the homeowner hears about it.
“They have to get the lien before the sale of the home is finalized, so they don’t have time to fight with the Ontario Consumer Protection Bureau. Time to take the finance company to court and ask the court to: Please remove the lien. ”
One of Crawford’s clients, Ian Craig, has multiple liens on land related to work done on his home in Kitchener, Ontario. Mr Craig said he did not know NOSI applied.
“I don’t understand how they’re allowed to put a lien on it like that. It’s unbelievable. They’re putting a lien on your house and you don’t know it. And , I think it’s shameful and should be changed,” he said.
Several companies registered with NOSI for Mr. Craig’s title did not respond to requests for comment. One company noted in a media statement that Mr. Craig had signed a contract stating that he could put NOSI on the title and that he was aware of his rights under consumer protection law.
The contract provided by the company includes that language.
Craig said at the time he was struggling with the loss of his wife and didn’t really understand what he was signing.
Minister says the situation is getting worse
More than 38,000 NOSIs were registered in Ontario last year alone. While not all of these are related to situations like Chan’s, McCarthy said the overall abuse at NOSI is significantly worse.
“Often it’s seniors, new Canadians, or Canadians with language barriers or challenges. [who] They are led to believe that they have to pay exorbitant amounts of money. They will do so almost in a way of blackmail to clear their titles,” he said.
“Security notices have become a crisis just in the past year, and there are a wide variety of options that we can consider, including completely eliminating security interest notices as a means of providing security interest notices. It also includes the option of abolishing the interest. “
That’s the change Crawford says he wants to see.
“In my opinion, [NOSIs] It does not support any legitimate commercial interests. They have outlived their usefulness. And rather than making it easier for consumers to remove these liens from ownership, it would be far better for consumers to make it impossible to remove these liens from ownership in the first place. ” he said.

Ontario’s opposition party, the NDP, supports the idea.
“People I talk to, whether they’re lawyers or the consumers who have been harmed by this, call this type of lien just extortion,” NDP consumer protection critic Tom Rakocevic said. There are more and more people,” he said.
Rakocevic said the state government should strongly consider banning NOSI altogether. He said Ontario lags behind other jurisdictions when it comes to consumer protection and is proposing the creation of an independent consumer watchdog.

Mr McCarthy said it was too early to say what changes to the law might result from the consultation and that a decision would be taken in the new year.
He said that while eliminating NOSI completely is on the agenda, NOSI has legitimate uses and the state government is focused on cracking down on its abuse.
“There’s that option too. [of banning NOSIs]”And there are many options between doing nothing and taking other steps. And that’s the range of remedies available, and we’re going to consider all of them.” he said.