A citizen is contesting the decision of the Service de la mise en valeur du territoire et du patrimoine not to grant him the subsidy he was awaiting, under the Home Ownership Program.
Initially, the citizen satisfied all of the eligibility criteria of the program. The reason why he was later denied the subsidy was that his daughter had attained her majority before the date of publication of his Deed of Sale. This detail is important because the number of minor children in the household has a direct impact on the right to the subsidy.
Our thorough investigation confirmed that the citizen had completed all of the necessary steps within the prescribed delays including his signing of his Deed of Sale. It was an inadequate handling of his file, by an outside City representative, which caused undue delays before the Deed of Sale was signed by the other parties and, therefore, before it could be published. It was during this period that the citizen’s daughter attained her majority. We also noted that, as soon as he had himself signed the Deed of Sale, the keys to his new condo had been given to the citizen who immediately took possession of it. The citizen was, therefore, justified in his belief that, from that moment on, the sale was final.
The Ombudsman de Montréal contacted the concerned authorities to discuss the unusual circumstances of this file, notably the abnormal delays which were not imputable to the citizen. Given these circumstances, the Service de la mise en valeur du territoire et du patrimoine agreed to pay the citizen, on an exceptional basis, the $7,500.00 subsidy which he had been denied.
