Lauren Lackie

The City of Kitchener brought a motion to validate the late service of its Responding Statement of Issues (RSOI) and a subsequent amendment to its RSOI in a property assessment appeal.

The City argued that exceptional circumstances existed due to a gap in staffing and unfamiliarity with the file.

The Assessment Review Board dismissed the motion, finding that the delay was caused by the City's own carelessness in failing to monitor timelines, which did not constitute exceptional circumstances under Rule 82.

The Board also noted that granting the extension would cause significant prejudice to the respondent, Canadian Tire Corporation.

A contractor sued a homeowner for unpaid renovation invoices totalling approximately $40,996.60 after deducting payments already received.

The homeowner counterclaimed alleging defective workmanship and sought the cost of demolishing and redoing the work.

The court found that the renovation contract lacked clarity regarding the scope of work, that the parties ignored key contractual procedures such as written change orders, and that the invoices did not reliably establish the work performed.

Evidence showed deficiencies in tile installation, but the homeowner failed to prove the cost of remediation with admissible or reliable evidence.

Because neither party established their claims on the balance of probabilities, both the action and the counterclaim were dismissed.