Court docs reveal landlord hit with $140K in fire code fines

A building owner is on the hook for $140,000 plus victim surcharges after being found guilty of half a dozen Ontario Fire Code offences in court last week — and while Sault Ste. Marie Fire Services won’t reveal the name of the landlord or the civic address of the property, court documents obtained by SooToday shed light on those undisclosed details. 

According to publicly available court records, all six fire code offences were identified at 456 Douglas Street by a fire prevention officer in November of last year. Records from the provincial land registry office show that DSPLN Inc. purchased the property on May 10, 2022 for $333,000. 

DSPLN Inc. was given 30 days to pay the fines and placed on probation for 12 months after being convicted in provincial offences court Nov. 28. 

The following is a breakdown of the Ontario Fire Code offences and their correlating fines:

• Failing to maintain smoke alarms in operating condition ($30,000)
• Failing to maintain carbon monoxide alarms in operating condition ($30,000) 
• Failing to maintain closures in a fire separation ($25,000)
• Combustible materials accumulated to create a fire hazard ($25,000)
• Failing to provide documentation of annual smoke alarm tests ($15,000)
• Failing to provide documentation of annual carbon monoxide alarm tests ($15,000)

The multi-residential building in the city's west end is one of several properties in the Sault owned by DSPLN Inc., which is headquartered in Burlington, Ont. Last year, SooToday discovered a total of 51 properties in Sault Ste. Marie that were acquired by the company. 

Aruba Butt was listed as a director for DSPLN Inc. in provincial land registry documents obtained by SooToday last year. But her connection to the Sault doesn’t end there. 

SooToday has so far identified as many as 99 local properties purchased by out-of-town companies associated with Butt, including Zack Files Real Estate, DSPLN Inc., The Pink Flamingo, Joint Captain Real Estate and Happy Gilmore Inc. 

A number of the Sault properties acquired by Butt’s companies are maintained by RWC Management, which had been linked to Zack Files Real Estate, SID Developments and SID Renos — all of them based in the Greater Toronto Area and southern Ontario — as part of the ‘SID family’ on the SID Renos website last year.

All connections to RWC Management and Zack Files Real Estate have since disappeared from the SID website.  

As previously reported by SooToday, publicly available incorporation documents reveal that Ryan Molony, president of RWC Management, is listed as a director for Happy Gilmore Inc., alongside Butt.

Molony is currently listed as president of SID Developments, SID Management and SID Renos on the SID Developments website.   

Robert ‘Robby’ Clark is the founder and chief executive officer of SID Developments. He is also listed as founder of RWC Management on his LinkedIn profile. 

Widely regarded as an influencer through his Instagram videos on self-help and business advice, Clark was also known for his childhood acting career, appearing in a number of television series (including The Zack Files), made-for-TV movies in addition to a small role in the 1999 film Superstar featuring Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell. 

In a sponsored article that appeared in USA Today in 2021, Clark claimed that SID's property portfolio consisted of more than $150 million in holdings across Ontario. 

Clark is also listed on LinkedIn as managing partner in Paradisal Bliss — a cleaning company servicing both residential and commercial properties in the Greater Toronto Area since 2013 — which was founded by Butt. 

Aruba Clark is listed as chief information officer for SID Developments, SID Management and SID Renos on the SID Developments website. A private Instagram account belonging to Aruba Clark contains a bio that simply reads ‘DSPLN’ and a link to the Paradisal Bliss website.