EXCLUSIVE: Court docs reveal identity of landlord hit with $95K in fines

Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services is not disclosing the name of the landlord who was recently fined $95,000 for violations of the Ontario Fire Code, or the civic address of the property where those provincial offences took place.  

But thanks to court documents obtained by SooToday — available to any member of the public who asks for them — both unknowns are now clear. 

According to the court records, all eight provincial fire code violations were identified at 138 East Street by a fire prevention officer with the local fire department in August of last year. 

The present-day apartment building — which made headlines on SooToday twice in the past three years for tenant evacuations caused by apartment fires — was previously known as Asimco College of Business, Healthcare & Technology prior to being rebranded as Gates College of Business, Culinary & Healthcare in 2016. The college has since relocated.     

Publicly available land registry records obtained by SooToday show Asimco Textiles Inc., a company based in New Lowell, Ont., west of Barrie, purchased the building in March 2013 for $260,000.

Asim Bhatti, the president and sole director of Asimco Textiles, signed for the transaction.

Asimco Textiles was found guilty of all eight provincial fire code offences on June 7 — the company initially pleaded not guilty to all counts earlier this year — and was given 15 days to pay the fines and placed on 12 months probation.   

Here is a breakdown of the violations and their corresponding fines:  

• Building fire alarm system not inspected for annual service requirements ($20,000)
• Failure to inspect and service all hose cabinets in building annually ($5,000) 
• Annual inspections of fire extinguishers not performed ($10,000)
• Failing to check fire alarm system daily for issues ($20,000)
• Annual testing of emergency lights not performed ($10,000)
• Ceiling fire separation not maintained ($5,000)
• Smoke alarms not checked annually ($20,000)
• Improper storage of combustible materials ($5,000)

In a telephone interview Friday, a clearly frustrated Bhatti told SooToday that he had no knowledge of the sentence handed down in court this week.

“This is ridiculous,” Bhatti said. “First of all, I’ve never been served — never knew that there was anything happening Wednesday, or else obviously we would’ve had a representative there.

“All of these fire violations have been rectified completely, and have been for several months. So obviously, we’re going to need to deal with this as an appeal.”   

Bhatti said he has documentation from the Ontario Fire Marshal showing that his company is up to date in terms of compliance with the provincial fire code, with the exception of “one small issue” relating to the required installation of a smoke detector in one part of the building “which is absolutely minor.”

“I even have emails from the fire marshal stating the same thing — as a matter of fact, up until last week I was getting these emails,” Bhatti said. “I obviously have to get to the bottom of this.

“This is ridiculous.” 

Bhatti said the issues began at 138 East Street with a leak in the building, which in turn caused an electrical short to the apartment building’s fire alarm system. 

“We had been working with the city. We got our engineers on board, they sent information to the city to make sure everything was okay,” he said.  

The municipality also approved of all of the corrective actions taken, Bhatti said.  

“We have done the renovations and the repairs. We have done everything. Nobody sent us anything to say ‘hey, you’re going to court,’” he said. “The building is intact, everything’s fine. 

“We literally have a smoke detector to put up, and we’re just waiting for the wiring to be done.”

An affidavit within the court documents indicates that a summons to appear in provincial offences court this past December was mailed to Asimco Textiles Inc. on October 11, 2022.     

Bhatti told SooToday that he did not receive the summons, and will be launching an appeal of the fines as soon as possible.

There have been multiple mortgages placed on the property over the past decade, the latest being a $5.9-million “collateral mortgage” registered in February 2021 against not only the East Street building, but other properties owned by Asimco.

Land registry records show that shortly after the building was purchased, multiple local companies registered construction liens against the property, alleging unpaid bills.

Algoma Insulation Systems Inc. accused the owner of not paying for $24,000 worth of fireproofing and insulation work completed in the summer of 2013. Carmen Muto Plumbing & Heating said it was owed the same amount of money for fixtures installed at the property. And Beta Fluid Power Ltd., which was hired to install a new electrical panel and wiring, said Asimco reneged on a bill for more than $15,000.

All three liens were eventually discharged, records show, indicating payment was made.