Builder fights deluge of buyers unable to close deals

An Ontario real estate developer has unleashed a deluge of litigation against dozens of buyers of preconstruction homes who allegedly defaulted on purchases in a Windsor-area subdivision.

Starting in November 2022, Coco Developments Ltd. filed more than two dozen claims related to houses it built at the River Ridge Estates project in Lakeshore, Ont., just east of Windsor. The claims describe preconstruction sales in the late summer and fall of 2021 followed by failures to close and complete transactions in the fall and winter of 2022. According to the court documents, most of the buyers are not local to Windsor, with addresses mainly in the Toronto region.