B4R Properties Group: the fifth sale approved, and a distribution to Desjardins

The duplex at 4 Lansdowne Avenue in Sault Ste. Marie went on the market with Remax on October 3, 2025, at $264,900. The receiver cut the price to $230,000 on January 3, 2026 and to $218,500 on May 12, and the first offer came on June 12, more than eight months after the listing; three counter-offers later, the receiver had an agreement, per the Fourth Report of the Receiver, Aug. 11, 2026, paras. 18–19. The price is redacted from the public copy of the agreement, and the broker's opinion of value is sealed. The receiver says the price is reasonable against that opinion, that no better offer arrived, and that it does not exceed the amount owed to Desjardins on the property, which its schedule puts at $307,995 as of January 31, 2025, per the Fourth Report, Aug. 11, 2026, paras. 20–22, 30.

On August 25, 2026, Justice M.D. McArthur approved the sale, the fifth of the thirteen properties in this receivership to reach a court-approved deal, and authorized the receiver's first distribution to Caisse Desjardins Ontario Credit Union Inc., per the Order of McArthur J., Aug. 25, 2026, paras. 4, 7.

Two landlords and a credit union

The thirteen properties belonged to B4R Properties Group – SSM Inc. and 15465737 Canada Inc., federal companies sharing a registered office at 1 Hunter Street East in Hamilton and a sole director and officer. Each, in the words of Desjardins's evidence, "holds residential properties and rents them out," per the Affidavit of Julie Chenard, Mar. 6, 2025, paras. 4–6 and the First Report of the Receiver, June 3, 2025, paras. 4–5.

B4R borrowed first. On July 4, 2023 it signed five loan agreements with the credit union, one for each of five properties, for principal amounts from $114,000 to $325,000 at 6.300% over three years. In December 2023, 15465737 Canada Inc. signed two more, for $1,372,000 and $1,313,500 at 7.130% over two years, each secured by collateral mortgages and assignments of rents on a basket of properties, nine in all; one of them, on Ferguson Avenue, had been transferred to a buyer and its mortgage discharged by January 17, 2025. The director guaranteed both sets of loans, to limits of $1,098,000 and $2,685,000, according to the Affidavit of Julie Chenard, Mar. 6, 2025, paras. 8–9, 28–31, 34–36, 39.

Both companies, the affidavit says, failed to make prompt payment, and both let their property and casualty insurance lapse, so that the credit union "has been forced to obtain its own property insurance pending the Receiver's appointment in order to secure the loan portfolio." Demands and notices of intention to enforce security under s. 244 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act went out on February 5, 2025. As of January 31, B4R owed $1,103,934.91 and 15465737 Canada Inc. owed $2,313,997.68, and the affiant deposed that neither could pay, per the Affidavit of Julie Chenard, Mar. 6, 2025, paras. 41–47. On March 27, 2025, Justice Spurgeon appointed BDO Canada Limited receiver and manager of both companies under s. 243(1) of the BIA and s. 101 of the Courts of Justice Act, on an aggregate debt of $3,417,933, per the Fourth Report, Aug. 11, 2026, paras. 1–3.

The rents after the appointment

When BDO arrived, eight of the thirteen properties were known to have tenants. The companies' insurance had lapsed several months earlier for non-payment of premiums, and the incumbent insurer would not reinstate the policies because of the receivership, so the receiver placed its own through its insolvency program broker. It engaged Richmond Advisory Services Inc. to secure the vacant properties, send rent attornment notices and collect the rents, per the First Report, June 3, 2025, paras. 7, 14–15.

The director met the receiver by video on April 1, 2025 and, the receiver reported, supplied the rent roll, leases, bank statements, property tax statements and corporate tax returns, telling it that the former property manager, Atalla Group Inc., had collected the rents and administered the companies' funds. On May 19, after the receiver had written in April asking for an accounting and any balance held, Atalla produced tenant account statements showing, in the receiver's reading, $5,336.10 in rents and deposits collected after the appointment. A transfer promised for May 22 had not arrived when the report was written, per the First Report, June 3, 2025, paras. 16–20. Receiver's counsel kept asking three questions: for an accounting of the funds received, where rental payments had been sent before the appointment, and whether any funds had been disbursed after it. On May 28, Atalla's administrative team answered: "No need for order, we will just take the hit on the work we did and just send the requested amount," per the First Report, June 3, 2025, App. "E".

The receiver's motion sought an order compelling both the director and Atalla to comply with the appointment order, and for costs, per the Notice of Motion, June 3, 2025, paras. 2(d), 3. The court did not have time to reach it on June 12, per the Endorsement of Krawchenko J., June 12, 2025, para. 1. On July 9, 2025, Justice Krawchenko noted that the respondents had neither appeared nor filed materials, and wrote that "[n]otwithstanding the very clear wording of the receivership order," the director and Atalla "have not been forthcoming with information requested of them nor have they fully cooperated with the receiver." He warned of "serious consequences to those parties if not remedied forthwith" and fixed costs on a substantial indemnity scale "to drive home the point" that the court expected full compliance, per the Endorsement of Krawchenko J., July 9, 2025, paras. 2, 4. The order signed that day authorized listing agreements with Remax Sault Ste. Marie Realty Inc. for each property, per the Order of Krawchenko J., July 9, 2025, para. 3.

Thirteen listings, one at a time

The receiver had taken listing proposals from CBRE Limited, Royal LePage Burloak Real Estate Services and Remax, and chose Remax on commission structure, market presence and the quality of its proposal. The properties were to be offered "in a staggered approach so as not to flood the market all at once," with preference to buyers taking more than one, per the First Report, June 3, 2025, paras. 23–26. The receiver's time dockets for 2025 record what holding the portfolio involved in the meantime: a fire call in May, a city order to repair a retaining wall in August, "squatters issues" in October, and in December a summons from the City of Sault Ste. Marie concerning 266 Albert Street, forwarded to counsel, per the Affidavit of Peter Crawley, Jan. 16, 2026, Ex. "A".

Desjardins funded the estate through a revolving line of up to $500,000 under the receiver's borrowings charge, and by January 15, 2026 the receiver had drawn $96,313.88; rent had brought in $30,570.19, insurance had cost $40,279.32, and the estate account held $5.00, per the Second Report of the Receiver, Jan. 19, 2026, paras. 14–15, App. "B".

The first sale was 306 Kathleen Street in Sudbury, listed with EXP Realty and Remax on November 20, 2025 at $112,900. An offer of $78,000 came a week later and was not accepted or negotiated further, being "substantially lower than the listing price"; a second, on November 30, became the agreement the receiver recommended, per the Second Report, Jan. 19, 2026, paras. 16–22. Justice Krawchenko approved it on January 29, 2026, per the Order of Krawchenko J., Jan. 29, 2026, para. 6. It closed, and on March 2 the receiver used the net proceeds to repay $87,382.75 of its borrowings, per the Third Report of the Receiver, May 26, 2026, paras. 15, 18–19.