Winthorp Valentine: once a month, not once every 72 hours

The building at 38-44 Chatham Street East in Windsor has two storeys of roughly 5,000 square feet each and a basement with ceilings almost nine feet high, which is the kind of detail a listing agent works with and a receiver records because it is most of what there is to say. It was vacant. On or about August 28, 2025, nineteen days before a receiver was appointed over it, one or more people let themselves in to strip the copper out of its electrical system, and in the attempt they started a fire, per First Report of the Receiver, July 9, 2026, paras. 10, 14.

The fire damaged wiring and equipment, structural framing and interior finishes. The sprinklers went off, the fire service added its own water, and between them they did more damage than the flames; there was limited smoke damage as well. Afterward the electrical and water services were disconnected, per First Report of the Receiver, July 9, 2026, para. 14.

Then the insurer said no.

The clause

The Company held a property policy that predated the receivership, and the insurer advised the Receiver that any claim under it would be denied on three grounds, stated in that order: the property was vacant; the policy required inspections of vacant properties at least once every seventy-two hours; and the Company's property manager, before the Receiver arrived, had been inspecting the building once a month. In light of that position the Receiver did not pursue a claim for the fire losses at all, per First Report of the Receiver, July 9, 2026, para. 16.

It is worth reading the Receiver's own first instruction to its property manager against that paragraph. Albert Gelman Inc. retained Richmond Advisory Services Inc. to manage the building, and the first of the four responsibilities it lists is attending at the property at least once every 72 hours to perform maintenance checks and walkthroughs, per First Report of the Receiver, July 9, 2026, para. 13(b). The interval that voided the coverage is the interval the receivership adopted on day one.

Whatever the fire cost, the estate carried it. The Receiver then spent to stop it costing more: reinforcements at the entrances to deter further entry, regular inspections to catch it if it happened again, an electrical contractor to make the building compliant enough to pass an Electrical Safety Authority inspection and get the power back on, the sprinkler system restored and recharged, a carpenter for the framing. Mould appeared during those repairs — probably, the Receiver notes, from the water used to put the fire out — and a remediation contractor was engaged. Water then came through the second floor when it rained, and a contractor repaired and resealed a section of roof, per First Report of the Receiver, July 9, 2026, para. 15.

How a building ends up empty

Winthorp Valentine Inc. was incorporated in Ontario on February 18, 2015. Its sole director, William Arvinitis, died on or about December 19, 2023. His brother John, executor of his testamentary estate, took over managing the company's business and the building, and the Receiver dealt with him throughout, per First Report of the Receiver, July 9, 2026, paras. 8–9.

The Toronto-Dominion Bank held a first-ranking charge over the property in the principal amount of $2.5 million, together with an assignment of rents and a general security agreement. No other mortgage was registered on title, and a search under the Personal Property Security Act run the day the Receiver was appointed showed TD as the only creditor with a financing statement against the company. The Receiver's independent counsel, Spetter Zeitz Klaiman PC, gave an opinion that the mortgage was valid, enforceable and first in line, per First Report of the Receiver, July 9, 2026, paras. 18–21.

TD applied under section 243(1) of the BIA and section 101 of the Courts of Justice Act, supported by the affidavit of Ami Pancholi, an account manager in the bank's Special Loans department, affirmed August 28, 2025 — the same day, on the Receiver's account, as the fire. Madam Justice Bezaire appointed Albert Gelman Inc. as receiver, without security, on September 16, 2025, and the Receiver took possession the following day, per First Report of the Receiver, July 9, 2026, paras. 1, 12, 13(a) and Order (Appointing Receiver), September 16, 2025.