Kristina and Eric Achilles had bought condos off plans before. So when they read a few negative reports online about home builder Urbancorp, they weren’t deterred from depositing $60,000 on a new, pre-construction semi three years ago.

The house would give them the space they needed for their growing sons at a price they could afford, she said.

“I knew $600,000 for a home of my size and a modern design was a pretty good deal. I didn’t expect it to be of super high quality,” said Kristina.

“Did I think they would take my money, and I would never get the house? No, I didn’t think there was any foreseeing that.”

She is among hundreds of disappointed home buyers stuck in limbo since Urbancorp revealed in April it was undergoing restructuring proceedings, including the proposed sale of some of its assets, under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

On Monday, bids close on at least four of those assets: the 1780 Lawrence Ave. W. site where Achilles bought; 177 Caledonia Rd.; 15 Mallow Rd.; and 425 Patricia Ave. Two other Urbancorp projects, Bridlepath and Woodbine, are also part of the court-supervised restructuring that was announced as a move to allow Urbancorp to complete the construction of 1,050 homes.

Achilles figures the best she can expect is a return of the deposit.

Ontario’s new home warranty agency, Tarion, could provide some relief with deposit refunds of up to $40,000 for freehold home buyers, which covers most new homes except apartment condos. The maximum deposit protection for those is $20,000.

But even if she were able to recover her full $60,000 deposit, Kristina Achilles says her family’s situation wouldn’t change. Given the escalation of real estate prices in Toronto, it wouldn’t be enough to start home shopping again, she said.

“I really want the house. The chances of us all getting bigger houses at this point. . . . It’s not going to happen,” she said.

Although the Achilles family is not her client, one Toronto lawyer is holding out a sliver of hope that they and some of the other Urbancorp buyers could still get their houses, although they would likely have to pay more.

It’s too early to know how the Urbancorp restructuring will play out, said Lisa Corne of Dickinson Wright, which has clients in four Urbancorp developments, including Lawrence Ave.

“It’s a long shot,” she said. But her firm is asking the court to grant home buyers some representation in making sure the successful bidders on the Urbancorp properties honour the purchase agreements.

“The law generally has permitted the purchase agreements to be disclaimed, but there is a development that is occurring in the law that is providing some hope for purchasers in terms of preserving their rights,” said Corne.

A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 31. If the court agrees, buyers could get a voice in reviewing the bids on the Urbancorp properties being sold. The motion also requests that the court order the Urbancorp estate to pay their legal fees and other professional expenses, arguing that it would be more efficient to have multiple buyers represented collectively by Dickinson Wright rather than individually.

“As individuals, their unsecured claims are relatively small and do not factor in a significant way into the decision-making of the key players in these proceedings,” according to court documents filed by Corne and her colleague David Preger, who argue that the home purchasers are a vulnerable group.

Many can’t afford to hire lawyers because they put their savings into deposits worth millions collectively, said Corne.

And there is another element to the case.

“It’s not just the refund of the deposits that these purchasers should be entitled to, but the increase in the value of the property they bought which should go to them instead of being appropriated and stolen back by Urbancorp through this process. That’s something we will be fighting for,” she said.

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Builder insolvencies aren’t unique, but the scale of Urbancorp’s may be.

“Normally you would have an isolated one project that would fail and here Urbancorp had 10 or 12 developments on the go at once,” said Corne.

The Urbancorp office phone was not answered on Friday.

For Michela Meleca, who is living with her baby and husband in her father-in-law’s basement apartment, the Urbancorp restructuring “is all a disaster” that hasn’t fully sunk in.

The couple poured all their savings into a $60,000 deposit on a Lawrence Ave. semi. For Michela it was as much an investment as a home. She said she would have been happy living in a small bungalow. But the couple really wanted to stay close to the neighbourhood where they grew up and they didn’t want to renovate or engage in the bidding wars that are common in Toronto’s housing market.

“It took us such a long time to buy something because we wanted to stay within the area. When this came up it seemed perfect. It was perfect,” she said.

If she gets her $60,000 deposit back — most of the couple’s combined savings — it’s going straight in the bank, said Meleca.

“I am so scared to put my money anywhere,” she said.

Kristina Achilles, who would have been her neighbour, acknowledges she is one of the lucky Urbancorp purchasers.

“We have a house. We’re not homeless, we’re not in a small apartment. We did consider selling our house when we bought and renting an apartment just to save up. Thank God we didn’t do that. Other people are worse off,” she said.

The Achilles have even figured out how to squeeze another room into their 1,200 sq. ft. home near Caledonia Rd. and Eglinton Ave. so their boys, 6 and 10, can have separate spaces. It will only be about 6 ft. by 9 ft.

“Not sure a teenage boy fits in that space, but we’ll see,” she said.