An Ontario Superior Court judge has ordered a man to pay his sister over $45,000 after finding he secretly placed a second mortgage on a property they co-owned and used the funds for his own purposes, including the purchase of a new home1. The decision, released on September 5, 2025, is the latest chapter in a painful family saga that began with a brutal act of domestic violence more than a decade ago, leading to a complex financial dispute between the siblings. The case, presided over by Justice D.A. Jarvis, unravelled the tangled financial dealings between Manija Yailaqi and her brother, Murtaza Yailaqi, following the sale of a house in East Gwillimbury.
The story’s origins trace back to April 12, 2013, when Manija was viciously attacked by her husband at a residence owned by Murtaza where she and her children were living. The assault left her with catastrophic injuries, including a severe brain injury, multiple skull and arm fractures, and deep lacerations across her body. She was in a coma for two and a half weeks and, upon waking, could not walk, talk, or see. Her husband was subsequently convicted of attempted murder and, after serving his prison sentence, was deported. Manija endured a grueling recovery, spending over three months in the hospital and another five in rehabilitation. While she eventually regained most of her mobility and some of her eyesight, she was left with permanent disabilities that affected her vision and cognitive processing.
In the aftermath of this tragedy, her brother Murtaza stepped in to provide support. He helped care for Manija’s three young children while she recovered and took charge of her financial affairs. He successfully managed her application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, secured a severance payment from her former employer, and helped establish an RESP for her children. Manija, unable to work, survived on social assistance and disability benefits. Murtaza and other family members lived with Manija and her children at a property located at 9 Lady Gwillim Avenue in East Gwillimbury, which was held in Murtaza’s name. However, the family dynamic grew strained over time, with conflicts arising over Manija’s ability to care for her children, leading to investigations by the local children’s aid society and police involvement on several occasions.
The escalating tensions culminated in December 2017, when Murtaza and his mother filed a court application seeking custody of Manija’s children. This legal action led to a pivotal consent order issued by Justice Douglas on February 22, 2018. While the custody issues were deferred pending an investigation, the siblings reached a final agreement on the East Gwillimbury property. The Douglas Order declared that Manija held a 70 percent ownership share of the property in trust, with Murtaza holding the remaining 30 percent. The order outlined a process for one party to buy out the other or, failing that, for the property to be sold, with proceeds and ongoing expenses to be divided according to their respective shares. The order also stipulated that Manija was to repay Murtaza for four months of missed mortgage payments from 2017.
Following this order, the relationship remained difficult. Manija, through her lawyer Aryan Yassavoli-Sani, informed Murtaza in April 2018 that she wanted the property sold as soon as possible. Murtaza cautioned that extensive repairs and renovations were needed to maximize the sale price, but Manija initially disagreed, preferring to sell the property “as is”. Shortly after, she terminated her lawyer’s services. It was during this period, without legal representation for his sister, that Murtaza took a significant step that would become the core of the future lawsuit. On May 4, 2018, he secured a $150,000 line of credit from Home Trust Company, which was registered as a second mortgage against the East Gwillimbury property. Two weeks later, on May 18, 2018, Murtaza closed on the purchase of his own newly built residence, using approximately $149,929 from the line of credit to complete the transaction.
The court found that neither Manija nor her lawyer was informed of this new mortgage. The East Gwillimbury property was eventually listed in July 2018 and sold on October 25, 2018, for $815,000. When the sale closed, the proceeds were used to pay off both the original Bank of Nova Scotia mortgage and the previously undisclosed Home Trust mortgage of nearly $148,500. For almost a year, the remaining funds sat with the real estate solicitor as Murtaza sought to vary the Douglas Order to be reimbursed for renovation and carrying costs he claimed to have paid. Manija’s lawyer, Mr. Yassavoli-Sani, who was re-engaged in July 2018, had difficulty getting instructions from Manija, who had relocated to the United Kingdom.
In September 2019, the siblings finally agreed to disburse the remaining funds according to the 70/30 split in the Douglas Order. Murtaza received a cheque for $91,651.28 and Manija’s cheque was for $202,013.89. It was only on October 3, 2019, when Mr. Yassavoli-Sani picked up his client’s cheque and reviewed the solicitor’s trust ledger, that he discovered the Home Trust mortgage had been paid out from the sale proceeds. He calculated that his client’s 70 percent share had been improperly reduced by $116,389.43. After being informed, Manija eventually commenced legal proceedings in October 2022 against her brother for the shortfall and against her former lawyer. The claims against the lawyer were dismissed at the start of the trial.
In his decision, Justice Jarvis carefully weighed the conflicting evidence and credibility of the two siblings. He described Manija as an unreliable witness whose recollection of events was vague, partly due to her significant injuries, but who tried to testify truthfully. He found Murtaza, who was self-represented, to be more credible regarding the necessity of renovations to the property but not credible about the Home Trust mortgage. The judge rejected Murtaza’s claim that he assumed his sister’s lawyer knew about the second mortgage, noting inconsistencies in his testimony. Justice Jarvis concluded that Murtaza “took a calculated risk in May 2018 in circumstances that he knew could reflect poorly on him.”
However, the judge also accepted that Murtaza was entitled to reimbursement for some of his sister’s unpaid expenses. The court determined that Manija owed Murtaza $5,422 for her 70 percent share of the five months of missed mortgage payments. Justice Jarvis also found that Murtaza had covered a larger portion of the property’s carrying costs after the Douglas Order was made, and that Manija owed him an additional $10,160.11 for her share. Finally, the court addressed the costs of renovations. While Murtaza claimed over $82,000 in expenses, the judge found the evidence lacking for many of the material and non-labour costs. He allowed the contractor labour costs and a further $10,000 for materials, concluding that Manija’s share of the valid renovation expenses was $51,465.41. In total, the court calculated that Manija owed her brother $67,047.52.
To determine the final judgment, Justice Jarvis subtracted the amount Manija owed Murtaza from the amount Murtaza owed Manija. The judge ruled that Murtaza owed his sister the $116,389.43 that was improperly diverted to pay off the secret mortgage. After deducting the $67,047.52 in expenses Manija owed him, the balance due to Manija was $49,341.91. After a final adjustment for funds still held in trust from the sale, the court ordered Murtaza to pay Manija a total of $45,532. The parties have been encouraged to settle the issue of legal costs from the trial on their own.
