Owners of condos the city says weren't built to code in west Winnipeg have an extra year to comply with city remediation orders issued in 2013.

Winnipeg's property and development committee voted in favour of a motion this week asking the public service to delay repair orders at the Riverside Glen development.

Tuesday's motion may prevent some owners from going broke, according to the president of the Riverside Glen condo board, who says all the units in the 20-unit development require "monumental" repairs to bring them up to code.

Problems with the duplexes on Augier Avenue in west Winnipeg — just east of the perimeter and north of the Assiniboine River — were discovered in 2013, not long after the first owners moved in.

In June 2013, city building inspectors found irregularities with the foundations that could result in structural failure.

The city ordered Legacy Homes to fix the problems but that didn't happen.

After years of negotiations with developer, Legacy Homes, the owners launched a lawsuit against the company, as well as the engineer that signed off on the building plans and the drafting company in 2016.

Owners are counting on compensation from the lawsuit to pay for redoing their foundations, estimated to cost about $225,000, said Betty Cook, the condo board's president. The cost does not include taking apart and putting back together basements, she added.

"Most of us simply cannot afford to [pay for repairs] until we get a judgment against the defendant through the court process," Cook said.

"We cannot get bank financing and … the remediation may force some owners into bankruptcy," she told the city's property committee.

Defects outlined in the condo owners' claim include false walls erected to hide the failing structural walls, insufficient and deficient piling, deficient window framing, and more than a dozen other items.

Units at Riverside Glen first purchased for between $370,000 and $420,000 are now appraised at $115,000, said Cook.

Paul Schroeder, one of Cook's neighbours and a fellow condo board member, said there's no immediate threat posed by waiting a year to start repairs.

"There aren't bricks falling off. No one's going to fall in a hole. Nothing like that's going to happen," he said.

The city's director of planning, property and development, John Kiernan, said aside from not meeting provincial building codes, the units do meet any "reasonable standard."

"It's really hard for those people," he said, referring to the owners. "Some are retirees, some are still working — this is your life savings. We're very empathetic towards them."

The city will continue to ask the owners to comply with building codes and fix the units but the units are safe to now delay repairs for a year, Kiernan said.

The condo owner's trial date is scheduled for April 2020.