By Kellah Lavoie

A legal look at Minto Apartments

Jul 19, 2011 | 6:30 AM

A University of Saskatchewan law professor is calling the Minto Apartments proceedings “extraordinary” and “highly unusual.”

The case, which dates back to 2004 when the City of Prince Albert placed a demolition order on the building, recently made it back into the spotlight. Owner, Larry Markwart, was denied the sale of the building by the city’s Property Maintenance Appeal Board. Markwart’s lawyer said they plan to appeal the decision.

Felix Hoehn, property and municipal law professor at the U of S, said there is a lot of history to the case.

He referenced the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal decision from 2006, where Markwart was given the opportunity to have his appeal against the demolition order heard, when the city originally denied it.

The city was under a lot of pressure to do something about the apartment building, Hoehn said.

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“It notes that the police were dispatched to building numerous times, 396 times in 2003 and close to 300 times in 2004,” he said.

“In November of 2004, the city inspected the apartments, there was a report that certain deficiencies should be corrected and that ultimately led to a demolition order.”

Things “went off the rails” at a meeting where Markwart asked for an adjournment because his lawyer wasn’t available. The council refused, he said.

He said it was the start of a “perfect storm.”

“You have sort of the intersection of property rights, which the legislation protects the common law … in part because it’s property right and in part because courts are just generally concerned about it.”
It comes down to procedural fairness. He said Markwart was at risk of losing his property, at his own expense. Markwart knew his rights and challenged what he deemed unfair.

According to Hoehn, the city had their reasons to be concerned about the apartment building, but was in too big of a hurry.

“Sometimes what may be in an effort to speed things along winds up backfiring, if the courts find that it wasn’t a fair procedure.”

Two years later the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal decision came down and both sides were back to square one.

“These things can get dragged out, (but) it’s very unusual for them to be dragged out this long of course,” he said, explaining this case has been bumped around the legal system including the Court of Queen’s Bench.

Hoehn offered the example of a well know property case that has taken so long. It comes from Victoria and involves millions of dollars. He said it has ended up at the Supreme Court of Canada twice.

He said while the Minto Apartment case has made it to the top of the Saskatchewan Court System, he doesn’t think anybody wants to take it to the Supreme Court of Canada.

He said the case could be over within weeks.

“It is generally not an easy thing to get a court to turn over the decision of a tribunal established by statue, which it the Property Management Appeal Board,” he said.

“We would never have guessed that it would go on for this many years, so chances are good it will wrap up in weeks or months, but one can’t be sure.”

klavoie@panow.com