Prcedures followed?

An Osoyoos couple's dream home came to a nightmarish impasse last month.
The couple, who did not want to be identified for this story, paid a large sum of money to their builder on a Friday only to discover that on the following Monday, the company had filed insolvency.
The couple said they tried to stop payment on the cheque and found that it had been certified at the bank that Friday.
The couple was then stunned to learn that their builder, Huntingdon Industries, hadn't paid the Town of Osoyoos for a building permit, leaving them now liable to absorb that cost, as well.
At this point, construction on their home had been going on for three months.
The normal procedure is for a builder to submit two sets of plans to the Development Services Department and make an application for a permit.
Once the plans are approved, the application is completed and the builder pays for the permit. Only then is the builder allowed to begin work on the project.
The Osoyoos Times asked the Town of Osoyoos' Building Inspector Dennis Tomlin how a project could have been well underway without having the building permit in place and paid for.
Generally, someone has to pay for a building permit before any work gets done. In this case, however, there was a certain level of trust with the builder, so they were allowed to go ahead on faith that they would pay us for the permit in time, Tomlin said.
Obviously, a lesson was learned.rnTomlin went on to say that the homeowners (who are still in the process of trying to have their house built) would have to pay for the permit and then turn around and try to collect from the builder.
It was unfortunate they were left in this situation, and we're trying not to add to their stress by demanding the money right away. But the permit needs to be paid.rnTomlin had little advice to offer to other prospective homeowners, except to say they should do diligence before hiring a builder.
However, a reputable building company with a great reputation would not raise any red flags, and Huntingdon Industries was listed in the 2005-2006 Canadian Home Builders' Association Guide.
Their name has since been crossed out of copies of the directory in the town office.
Unfortunately, there was no warning that something like this could happen. The builder has gone through the tests that qualify him for becoming a member of the association, Tomlin said.
Huntingdon Industries owner Paul Dumoret said they would try to make good on the building permit and the bankruptcy was unfortunate.
Basically, we ran out of money. After my plane accident in October of 2004, the office was left unattended while I was recovering and the company went into arrears, Dumoret said.
As for the money paid to Huntingdon by the homeowners, Dumoret said that payment was for work already completed.
A milestone was met under a contractual arrangement and that was what they were paying for, said Dumoret.
The Osoyoos Times asked Mayor John Slater if he thought the Town of Osoyoos made a mistake in allowing the building to proceed without a permit, and whether he thought it was fair to put the homeowner on the hook for the building permit, but he had not replied by press time.