A Toronto justice of the peace has imposed a $950,000 fine on Havcare Investments, a company branded a "slumlord" by the mayor and tenants, after rejecting a joint submission that would have fined the landlord just $300,000 for ignoring city orders at 500 Dawes Rd.
Justice of the Peace John Scarfe more than tripled the proposed penalty in a scathing ruling released this week, calling the company a "repeat offender" that "preys on vulnerable tenants." The fine includes a 25% victim surcharge, bringing the total financial penalty to over $1.18 million.
Landlord's history of non-compliance
Havcare, which owns at least seven buildings in Toronto, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of failing to comply with property standards orders issued in 2025. The 14-storey highrise at 500 Dawes Rd. houses 282 units, 90 of which are unoccupied. Despite its "dismal state," the building generates approximately $2.3 million in yearly gross income and has an assessed value of $35 million, according to the ruling.
Carolyn Krebs, also known as Carolyn Goodman or Marian Linton, is the director of Havcare. Last month, she was sentenced to 15 days in custody and personally fined $120,000 under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act for deficiencies at another Havcare building on the same street.
Dangerous conditions for tenants
The highrise has a vulnerable population of seniors and disabled tenants who have endured years of neglect. Units are plagued with mold, leaks, cockroaches, mice, and balcony guard rails that have rusted through. The JP warned of significant risk to life: "It is only a matter of time before someone falls off a balcony and dies."
Count 12 of the charges stemmed from an investigation into a balcony rail that had become detached outside Unit 302. "A small adult or child could have easily slipped through and fell to their death," Scarfe wrote. Other deficiencies included a crumbling underground parking garage with falling chunks of concrete.
JP rejects lenient joint submission
The joint submission from city lawyers and the landlord's paralegal proposed fines of $10,000 to $15,000 for 11 counts and $75,000 each for two counts related to ignoring orders to hire an engineer to inspect balconies and the garage. Scarfe reluctantly accepted the fines for the 11 violations, calling the conditions "deplorable" and "unacceptable." However, he rejected the $150,000 total for the two serious counts, describing it as "so low and so unhinged from reality that they would cause any reasonable person to lose confidence in our regulatory system of justice."
Instead, Scarfe fined Havcare $400,000 for each of those two violations, emphasizing that deterrence must be strong enough to discourage the company and other slumlords from putting lives at risk. "The principles of deterrence must be applied with sufficient force to discourage Havcare, and other slumlord corporations, from failing to maintain basic safety standards," he concluded.
Tenants' association responds
Ryan Endoh, chair of the tenants' association, expressed optimism that the tide is turning against the notorious landlord. "I'm happy that the JP realizes the severity of the situation at 500 Dawes and the serious life risks," he said. "You can't underestimate the human suffering. And it's caused a level of fear of something catastrophic happening from years of maintenance neglect."
