An Ontario court ordered a defaulting homebuyer to forfeit her entire $70,000 deposit after walking away from a $1.388 million residential real estate transaction in Vaughan.
Reesa Garber, a registered real estate agent in Ontario, contracted on April 28, 2024, to purchase the home at 81 Littleriver Court from sellers Sharon and Alexander Laraia. The deal carried an agreed completion deadline of July 16, 2024. While the original transaction included a financing condition valid through May 3, Garber formally waived that clause, locked in the financial terms, and rendered the purchase agreement firm. Her $70,000 deposit was transferred into the brokerage's trust account. Then the financing collapsed.
Garber informed listing agent Catherine Artenosi of Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Centre on June 13 that she could not secure a mortgage. She had failed to sell her own residence. Without that liquidation, she lacked the capital to fund the Vaughan purchase. But the signed agreement contained no clause conditioning the acquisition on the prior sale of her personal property. The sellers refused to yield. They held her strictly to the terms of the signed deal.
A day later, Garber approached the office of real estate lawyer Giancarlo Soppelsa to deliver the same warning. She could not close. She demanded that the Laraias either terminate the transaction or push back the closing date. The sellers rejected both overtures.
Garber escalated her withdrawal. On June 21, she reiterated that the lack of bridge financing made closing impossible. Three days later, on June 24, she delivered a signed mutual release seeking to terminate the purchase agreement. In the same notice, she demanded that the sellers immediately relist the property to mitigate potential damages. Garber retained legal counsel, who confirmed on June 26 that she would not execute the transaction.
The sellers moved fast. Counsel for the Laraias issued a formal response on June 27, accepting Garber's repudiation as an anticipatory breach of contract while explicitly reserving every legal right to pursue damages and retain the initial funds.
Jake André, presiding judge at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, dismantled the buyer's defense. Garber argued that her subsequent attempts to secure appraisal inspections and arrange financing had revived the underlying purchase agreement. The court flatly disagreed. Justice André ruled that the sellers operated under zero contractual obligation to permit property access for mortgage appraisals once the transaction had ended through her breach.
Records show the Laraias attempted to rescue the transaction on July 3, offering to revive the sale under modified terms. Those terms required an additional $20,000 deposit and an explicit agreement authorizing the immediate release of the entire sum if the purchase collapsed a second time. Garber rejected the offer. Justice André ruled that this abortive negotiation did not erase the legal consequences of her prior breach.
| Contract Parameter | Official Case Metric |
|---|---|
| Property Address | 81 Littleriver Court, Vaughan, Ontario |
| Agreed Purchase Price | $1,388,000 |
| Earnest Deposit Forfeited | $70,000 |
| Assessed Court Costs | $35,000 |
| Payment Window for Costs | 90 Days |
| Presiding Magistrate | Justice André, Ontario Superior Court of Justice |
The Legal Precedent: The ruling underscores the severe personal exposure facing buyers who waive financing protections in fluctuating real estate markets. Real estate contracts in Ontario remain binding instruments; unfulfilled assumptions regarding separate home sales provide no legal shield once conditions are formally removed.
Under the terms of the judgment, the $70,000 deposit held in trust will be released directly to Sharon and Alexander Laraia, while Garber faces a strict 90-day deadline to pay the additional $35,000 in assessed legal costs.