After a house fire that killed four family members in Brampton last November, the City’s mayor immediately put a spotlight on the landlord’s alleged poor compliance history.
Patrick Brown said the home was owned by an “absentee landlord” and that the city had been refused entry to investigate issues with a basement unit. “This tragedy underscores why Brampton continues to take strong action against illegal and unsafe rental units,” he told reporters.
But enforcement records obtained by the Star raise questions about how diligently Brampton enforced its bylaws after officials were warned twice about an alleged illegal basement unit in the property.
The records also appear to contradict what officials told the public both in the days after the fire and in response to the Star’s questions.
“At this point, it appears to me as if the city is scrambling to cover up what actually happened here,” said former Brampton councillor Jeff Bowman. Bowman has advocated for more stringent enforcement of fire safety rules around additional residential units.
The cause and origin of the Banas Way fire, which also sent four people to the hospital, including an expecting mother who lost her baby, remain unknown. A spokesperson for the Office of the Fire Marshal said that the incident is still under investigation.
Brampton’s battle against unlicensed basement units
The city started a bylaw enforcement investigation of an alleged illegal basement unit at 12 Banas Way in August 2019 after receiving a complaint.
“The owner was directed to remove the lock and restore the home to a single dwelling, and the file was closed in November 2020 upon confirmation of compliance,” city spokesperson Sevdia Rama said.
At the time, Brampton was already grappling with the proliferation of unlicensed basement units, which pose heightened risks in the event of a fire.
“The City is seeing a marked increase over the years of house fires that have started in homes with a basement apartment, especially secondary units that were not legally registered,” then-councillor Bowman wrote in a 2019 letter to Premier Doug Ford after another fatal blaze.
Fires in secondary units such as basement suites “pose additional risks due to egress and firefighting accessibility challenges,” the city’s 2021-2025 Fire Master Plan notes. A 2022 city report says that “illegal secondary units” have “led to a rise in service requests, resulting in higher demands on bylaw enforcement and Fire and Emergency service response,” straining resources.
City apparently put complaint on ice for years
In August 2020, before the first complaint regarding the alleged illegal unit was closed, records show there was a second complaint, which was assigned a distinct file number. But four days later, the complaint was put “On Hold until further notice due to Covid.”
There is no record of any enforcement action on that file until the city sent the owners, Nitin and Pratibha Betrabet, a letter on Nov. 26, 2025 — six days after the fatal fire.
That letter says the city “has received information alleging” that the property “contains an unregistered Additional Residential Unit” that may be in contravention of Brampton bylaws. The property owners were directed to submit a registration application or possibly face tens of thousands of dollars in fines.
“Unregistered units may lack mandatory safety features, potentially placing occupants, visitors, and neighbouring properties at risk,” the letter says.
The records obtained by the Star suggest that Brampton put a complaint about an allegedly illegal basement unit on ice for more than five years.
“Somebody’s dropped the ball here,” Bowman, the former Brampton councillor, said. “I was there during COVID, and I know for a fact that some of the inspections were stopped.”
Records reveal contradictions
Asked why the warning letter was sent after the fatal blaze, Brampton spokesperson Kennisha Petgrave said the 2020 complaint “was actioned as part of the existing investigation” into the 2019 complaint and closed with it in November 2020. She said the 2025 letter was “part of a city-wide education campaign” for owners about “their obligations to comply with local bylaws.”
But the letter sent to the Betrabets at the Banas Way property is not a boilerplate educational mail-out. It bears the same file number as the second complaint investigation that was put on hold due to COVID-19.
Asked about the contradictions between the letter and the city’s initial account, Petgrave said that “upon further review of the multiple files associated with the property, an outdated file number was included in the bylaw enforcement letter.” She said that “the information and intent of the correspondence remain accurate.”
Bowman said this explanation is not credible. “That’s a joke,” he said. “If it had been an educational campaign, there would have been no file numbers attached to it.”
Brown, the mayor, did not answer questions about the enforcement records. The Star also contacted all of Brampton’s current councillors for this story. None offered any comment.
In late 2023, Brampton announced a residential rental licensing pilot program to “maintain the character of local neighbourhoods, uphold property standard bylaws and keep individuals and families safe with enforcement of the Ontario Fire Code.”
The pilot program initially applied to five city wards, excluding the area where the Banas Way property sits. It was expanded to include all wards in the weeks after the fatal fire.
While the second complaint file was suspended — or shortly after it was closed, depending on the account — the Banas Way landlords applied for a permit to create an additional residential unit. Records show Brampton issued a permit for a “change of use — two unit dwelling including one enlarged window in basement” in March 2021, but the owners then allegedly failed to request mandatory inspections.
In March 2022, the city sent the owners an order to comply and request a site inspection by the end of the month. The order says that failure to comply could result in a $50,000 fine for a first offence.
“The owner continued to not request the required Building Code inspections,” Rama, the Brampton spokesperson, told reporters after the fire. The city did nothing more, the records show.
A lease provided by the landlord’s lawyer shows that four tenants signed to move into the Banas Way home in March 2023. At that time, an investigation report relating to the order to request an inspection notes: “Prosecution withdrawn.” It adds: “issue new otc and register on title.”
Owner said house was a single-family residence
Bowman said the city should have done more to ensure compliance. “If a building permit is issued, … there should be very strict follow up.”
Petgrave, the Brampton spokesperson, said the order was withdrawn after “the applicable limitation period” because “the City had no grounds to proceed.” She did not answer questions about the note that appears to show another order to comply was in the works.
Nitin Betrabet said that although he did make an application to build a subunit in 2020, he later abandoned the application. “We kept this as a single family unit, treated it and rented it as a single family residence only,” Betrabet said in November through his lawyer.
One renter, Jugraj Singh, a truck driver who was away working on the night of the fire, told the Star in December that everyone staying at the intergenerational home were family. He said he had a good relationship with the landlord.
Asked about the adequacy of an enforcement system that relies on owners to request inspections, Petgrave said the city “will determine appropriate next steps” once the fire investigation is done.
With files from Abby O’Brien and Raju Mudhar
