What began as a simple knock on the front door last spring has resulted in an elderly Scarborough man living out of a suitcase, his home roofless and in ruins.
Police are now investigating a possible fraud, while the man’s home insurance company has denied most of his claim.
Lawrence Huang was approached in late May by representatives of a company called Super Dry Roofing and Masonry, who told him his roof was infested with rodents, seriously damaged, and in need of replacement.
The 76-year-old, whom his niece Katie Semple describes as “on the spectrum,” signed a roof replacement contract and gave a salesman for the company a $25,000 advance on the $50,000 job.
The contractor went to work, completely removing the roof of Huang’s two-storey Guildwood Parkway home, leaving the contents open to the elements.
The kitchen of Lawrence Huang’s home, four months after contractors left the job site, with the home’s roof removed. TD Insurance has said it will cover the cost of the home’s ruined contents, but not the structural damage. (Mike Smee/CBC)
And the price began to rise. Semple says her uncle then handed over $1,800. Within weeks he gave the contractor another cheque, this time for $64,000 — at which point employees at his bank became suspicious, and refused to honour the large cheque. They also contacted police, the city and Semple, his only surviving relative.
Within days, the workers abruptly abandoned the site, leaving his home with no roof and a massive pile of scrap lumber in the driveway.
Semple says she has tried to contact Super Dry, but the phone number appears to be disconnected.
CBC Toronto has also attempted to contact the company using phone and email contacts listed on the contract. The phone number is not assigned and an email was returned as undeliverable.
After Super Dry left, Huang initially tried living in the basement, but city engineers and Toronto Fire Service ordered him to leave. Since then, Semple says, he has been living in motels and trying to figure out how his home can be rebuilt — and how it will all be paid for.
The contents of his home, including valuable books and family mementoes, are now a sodden mess, destroyed by trespassers, rain and animals.
“It’s a lifetime of memories,” Semple said. “It’s terrible. I lost sleep. I don’t know what to do. I’m the only one he has left.”
Katie Semple stands in what was once the living room of her uncle’s Scarborough home. She says trespassers have done damage, as has the weather. (Mike Smee/CBC)
Semple says her uncle’s insurer, TD Insurance, is refusing to cover most of the damage, including Huang’s rebuild, which he cannot afford to do on his own.
In a Sept. 9 letter to Huang, shared with CBC Toronto, TD Insurance’s adjuster wrote: “We do not insure the cost of correcting faulty design, material or workmanship.” Damage caused by animals, vandalism or rain also isn’t covered in Lawrence Huang’s policy, according to the letter.
Semple argues that, in her opinion, the damage to the home was caused by a fraudulent company — but, she says, TD Insurance still isn’t budging on paying for the damage to the roof.
TD Insurance wouldn’t speak with CBC Toronto about Huang’s case, citing privacy concerns. But in an email, the company wrote: “TD Insurance recognizes how distressing this situation has been for our client and his family and continues to work directly with them regarding the claim.”
Lawrence Huang says he initially tried to live in the basement of his home after the contractor left mid-project, but Toronto Fire Service and city engineers said he had to move out. (Michael Smee/CBC)
Semple says she hired her own adjuster to communicate with the company and some progress has been made. In a follow-up letter dated Sept. 28, TD Insurance said it will cover the damage to the contents after all, but remains adamant that it will not pay for the home’s rebuild.
Until that happens, Huang will continue to live in a motel. Semple says he is covering those costs, but he doesn’t have enough money to rebuild the house.
Luis Seco, a University of Toronto professor who studies the insurance industry, says it’s common for insurers to balk at covering some types of damage, typically structural, which is the most expensive to repair.
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He says ultimately an insurance company can deny any claim, and the onus is then on the homeowner to take them to court, if they believe the company is violating its policy contract.
But that can be expensive, and he suggests that homeowners first apply to a non-profit insurance industry mediator, the General Insurance Ombudservice, whose members include most Canadian insurance companies.
Toronto police acknowledged in an email that it is investigating a fraud complaint at Huang’s property.
Det. David Coffey of the financial crimes unit told CBC Toronto he couldn’t comment on Huang’s case specifically, but he said roofing scams are common in the city.
“We’ve been dealing with roofing scams for as long as I’ve been a police officer, and that’s 29 years,” he said.
Det. David Coffey is with Toronto Police Services’ financial crimes unit. He says confidence schemes have cost Torontonians $50 million so far this year. (Mike Smee/CBC)
He said the roofing scam is considered a con game, in which a fraudster builds up a person’s confidence before talking them out of their money.
Typically the scam begins with a salesperson’s knock on the door. The homeowner is warned that a leak in his or her roof is imminent and urgently needs fixing. “They present themselves as the answer to that emergency,” Coffey said. “Your roof is going to leak and the city is going to condemn your house.”
He said most scammers begin by asking for relatively small sums — in the low thousands — and then they escalate the demand until they’re convinced the homeowner has nothing left to give.
“It’s really the urgency and the fear they’re generating,” Coffee says. “We’re not reacting intellectually; we’re reacting emotionally.”
So far this year, Coffey says cons of all types have cost Torontonians about $50 million. And that only covers reported scams. TPS figures only about five to 10 percent of victims actually report the crime.
Coffey says the damage done to the Huang home — if it is a fraud — would be “on the higher end” of the typical roofing scam.
His advice? “You need to bring yourself down off that ledge they’ve put you on … Pause and verify. Slow it down and do your own due diligence into that company.”
But he says the best defence is to simply not do business with contractors who come knocking.
