The dream began in 1998 when Laura and I decided to find a waterfront property somewhere in the Laurentians that when we retired, we would build our retire home on. We did not have a lot of money to spend but enough to consider this opportunity.
We spent a long holiday weekend visiting a number of properties and the last one we saw was next to the Chapleau Barrage. As we travelled to the property we of course were impressed by the view as we crested the hill of Chemin Isaac Gregoire Sud and saw the mountains caressed by Lac Chapleau.
We arrived at the property that was for sale on Lac des Mauves next to the Chapleau Barrage. We ventured down to the property from the barrage side and we were instantly taken back by the view of Lac des Mauves. We looked at one another and knew that we had found our dream property to retire on in the future.
It took no time at all to purchase the property and we spent the next five years learning and exploring the La Minerve area while on vacation and at the same time arranging with local business folks the construction of a gravel driveway on the property so that we could get as close as possible to the lakefront. In the meantime we applied for and received permission to install a dock. That went in without a hitch.
We were growing to adore the La Minerve area.
So now we had property that we could enjoy going to while on vacation and plan where our retirement home would go. We rented various cottages over these years in and around La Minerve and spent quality time on the property and our dock making the most of what Lac des Mauves had to offer. We even bought a canoe so that we could more fully explore Lac des Mauves, a quiet pristine lake that needs to stay this way.
Then one day while swimming off of our dock we noticed that the property next to us was up for sale privately. We inquired and the price was right. We bought this property in order to provide investment options and a possible buffer to neighbours when we retired. That sale also went very smoothly. So here we are, owners of two separate properties in a province we both grew to love.
Not long after we purchased the second property we decided to build a small chalet on it and spend our vacation time there until we retired. We would then have a place to stay while our retirement home was being built on the larger lot, the first one we bought in 1998. We could then sell or rent out the chalet to friends. Arrangements were made with a local builder, survey drawings done of the second property and where the chalet would go, permits applied for and issued.
This is where the seed of the problems we experienced sprouted.
Around the same time, the Municipality of La Minerve asked us "for ease of administration of property taxes" would we mind if both of the separate properties, since we owned both of them, appeared on one tax bill? Not wanting to create extra work or paper, we agreed. BIG MISTAKE! Never agree to this!
Parallel to this request, something we did not know was going on, the Director of Urbanism at that time (2003-2004) had issues with the our chalet plans and the size of the second property and arbitrarily, without our permission or any consolation with us, combined property one and property two into a single property. As such she then approved the building permit of the chalet and the chalet was subsequently built based solely on a survey of the the second property only - not a combined property one and property two. BIG ERROR BY MUNICIPALITY OF LA MINERVE.
What should have happened was that our request to build be denied because the second property was too small and direct us to seek a variance for the chalet construction or for us to consider combining both of our properties into one. This was not done.
If this had been done, this would have caused us to reconsider our chalet plans altogether. However, we were not provided with the courtesy of this opportunity of reflection and the two separate properties we owned were arbitrarily combined into one without our permission by the then Director of Urbanism, later an elected Councillor, who has since resigned and who, I might add, was an avid supporter of the current Mayor.
All of what went on at the time that our separate properties were illegally joined into one was not known to us until 2010. Our chalet had at this time been built for five years and we were spending as much vacation time as possible there enjoying all that La Minerve had to offer. Laura went into the Municipality of La Minerve to seek a dock permit for our second property and was told in no uncertain terms and quite bluntly I might add, we only owned one property and we already had a dock.
You can only imagine the shock my wife felt at hearing this and how she felt having to break the news to me at what she was told by a less than sympathetic employee of the Municipality of La Minerve. She cried and shook in emotion when she told me as she saw our dream of building a retirement home on the property we bought back in 1998 had vanished.
I too was to say the least livid at what Laura had just gone through, but I remained calm. Two people being emotional does not often accomplish much in planning one's next steps. So over the next couple of years I planned out our response to what the Municipality of La Minerve had illegally done to us. The issue that bothered me was that the Municipality of La Minerve would not admit they made an error and were simply ignoring our repeated requests to resolve the matter.
We hired and fired two Quebec Lawyers who could not see a resolution without going to court so I decided we needed to tackle this issue ourselves. So, I proposed a scenario that since the Province of Quebec, which I confirmed, still recognized in land titles that we owned two separate properties, if we were to sell one we needed a separate tax assessment for the property we were considering selling in order to provide full disclosure to prospective buyers. I requested this from the Municipality of la Minerve still not acknowledging their error.
WELL, now the Municipality of La Minerve were in a quandary. How can they do this? They even sent the issue to an independent consultant who agreed that we had two separate properties and we had a right to build on the property we purchased in 1998. Although the consultants did not specifically say that the Municipality of La Minerve made an error in issuing the building permit for the chalet, all one had to do is read between the lines as that is what happened.
Safe to say, the Municipality of La Minerve now agreed that the two properties were separate (so what they did back in 2003-2004 was wrong - illegal) and we had a right to build our retirement home on the property one - now legally recognized as 39-11 Range 8.
Now, some might say that victory is sweet and one needs to move on. Yes, that is true in a way but move on where? In making that decision one has to consider that the Municipality of la Minerve wronged you and failed to admit they were wrong for many years, took illegal actions without your permission and put you and your wife through an emotional roller-coaster for over four years until finally they had to admit they were wrong. Not to mention the legal costs incurred in hiring and firing two less than competent Quebec lawyers.
The dream had been so tainted, it was in our opinion, over, now more like a nightmare.
We have moved on by selling the chalet and in the future, we will sell the dream property we initially bought in 1998. We have had to find a new dream property and we hope we did on Vancouver Island which is lake front and a five minute walk from the Salish Sea. No bugs to think of and no five to six months of winter.
We will never forget all the wonderful people and friends we met in La Minerve and hope that in the future the Administration and the Political representatives of the Municipality of La Minerve do not destroy anyone else's dream of a wonderful life in the La Minerve community.
