The Homeowners Protection Office has pulled the licence of a Vancouver development company that cancelled pre-sale agreements with 32 people because of financial problems.

CB Developments, which cancelled the contracts in April for its Riverbend housing project in suburban Coquitlam, and its director, Graydon Hayward, have had their licences revoked for five years, effective Wednesday. That means they are not allowed to direct any building projects during that time. 

The potential buyers of the Riverbend homes got their deposits back, but lost an average of $80,000 in accumulated equity.
(CBC)

Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Homebuilders Association, said he supports the actions, calling them "justifiable and … appropriate."

The licence revocations, he said, are also "supported by many, many members of the development and the home building industry, who were quite upset about what happened out at Riverbend."

Hayward and his son-in-law, Craig Lochhead, are in the early stages of developing a waterfront property in Ucluelet on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Simpson said the HPO decision could prevent them from proceeding.
 
Hayward did not return calls from CBC News.

In a letter to the 32 buyers, CB Developments said its lender was no longer willing to provide more money to finish construction unless the houses were sold at the latest market prices to new buyers.

The buyers went to court in an effort to be allowed to complete their purchases at the pre-construction prices. The buyers had been given their deposits back but had each lost, on average, about $80,000 in equity.

However, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled the homes should be completed and sold at current market prices. The construction project is now being run by a receiver.