Advisory group calls for harsher punishment for unethical real estate behaviour
Posted April 12, 2016 6:13 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – We’re getting a better sense of the recommendations that will be coming from an independent advisory group on how to protect people buying and selling homes in our province.
The group has released a progress report, and there are 10 areas where it’s recommending changes.
Carolyn Rogers with the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) says the group believes penalties for unethical behaviour need to go up. She acknowledges the Real Estate Council of British Columbia has a proposal before the government to increase maximum penalties, so why not recommend government act on that?
“The answer is frankly that we don’t consider that proposal to go nearly far enough. It’s our view that simply increasing the size of penalties is not enough,” she says.
The group wants to see the number of infractions that someone can be punished for, expanded.
“The advisory group will consider also whether misleading advertising and predatory sales strategies are being sufficiently deterred and adequately punished.”
Another area the IAG is looking at is whether or not there is a place in the industry for double-ending — where a licensee can represent the interests of the buyer and seller in the same transaction.
“Real estate licensees are expected to act at all times, solely in their clients’ best interest. It’s difficult for most of us to understand how that obligation can co-exist with rules that allow a licensee to represent the interests of a buyer and a seller in the same transaction.”
Rogers adds the group also expects to make recommendations on restructuring the governing board of the Real Estate Council of BC.
The group is aiming to release the recommendations in early June.
