City sues owners of vacant Winnipeg buildings over years of unpaid inspection bills, fees

The City of Winnipeg is taking the owners of several vacant buildings to court in two separate lawsuits, alleging they've failed to pay years worth of inspection bills and other fees, amounting to thousands of dollars.

One claim, filed Jan. 5 at the Manitoba Court of King's Bench, seeks general damages and about $20,000 in unpaid inspection bills and empty building fees from John Stepien in connection with four vacant inner-city Winnipeg buildings he owns.

A similar claim, filed by the city on Jan. 18, seeks just over $17,000 for unpaid inspection bills and empty building fees for two vacant buildings in Winnipeg's William Whyte neighbourhood, owned by Misah Kinfemicael Daba.

None of the allegations have been tested in court. No statements of defence have yet been filed.

A city spokesperson told CBC News Tuesday they cannot comment on the lawsuits since the matters are before the courts.

However, the city generally works closely with property owners to resolve such issues and only resorts to court action "once other alternatives have been exhausted," said spokesperson Adam Campbell.

As of last Friday, 677 Winnipeg properties were subject to the city's vacant building bylaw, Campbell said.

The bylaw is intended to ensure vacant buildings are properly maintained and allows enforcement officers to inspect Winnipeg properties. Buildings determined to be vacant undergo yearly inspections, which the owners are then billed for.

Feces found on vacant building's walls: suit

Once a vacant building has undergone five or more annual inspections, the owner is charged an annual empty building fee, which amounts to one per cent of the property's most recent assessed value.

The city says its enforcement officers reached their fifth annual inspection of one of Stepien's vacant properties, in Winnipeg's West Alexander neighbourhood, in 2023 and later issued an empty building fee.

During those inspections, officers say they found issues such as exterior damage, boarded-up windows and/or doors, and garbage in the building. There was also feces on its interior walls, according to the suit.

The charges for the five inspections and the empty building fee all remain unpaid by Stepien "despite demand" from the city, according to the city's lawsuit.

Stepien's three other vacant properties mentioned in the suit were issued a total of 11 annual inspection fees between 2017 to 2023, which also have not yet been paid, the city alleges.

Record number of fires in vacant buildings

In its separate suit against Daba, who owns two buildings in Winnipeg's William Whyte neighbourhood, the city says a total of 10 inspection charges and four empty building fees issued between 2016 to 2023 remain unpaid.

Enforcement officers found severe fire damage inside both buildings through their inspections during those years, according to that suit.

The buildings reached their fifth vacant building bylaw inspections in 2020 and 2021, and annual empty building fees were later issued to Daba, the suit says.

Daba was also issued a noncompliance inspection fee after a 2022 inspection found one building did not meet the city's neighbourhood liveability bylaw, which regulates the maintenance of properties, according to the suit.

CBC News reached out to Daba for comment on Tuesday but did not hear back.

Stepien could not be reached prior to publication.

The suits come after the city saw a record number of vacant building fires last year.

Tom Bilous, president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg, told CBC News last week there were 150 fires in vacant buildings in the city in 2023, far surpassing the previous record of 84 the year before.

The city adopted a bylaw in 2023 that makes property owners responsible for the costs of fighting fires in vacant buildings in order to spur them to properly secure the properties from break-ins.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has also said he would like to explore seizing vacant buildings from problem landlords to turn them into social housing.