BC realtors were scammed, then hit with quarter-million dollars in fines
Four people and their real estate firm have been hit with $275,000 in fines after getting caught up in a scam sale of a battered house in 2019.
They were all managing brokers or realtors with Pacific Evergreen Realty Ltd. Three got $50,000 fines, the firm was fined $25,000 and realtor Tracy Xiaomei Li was hit with a $100,000 fine from by the BC Financial Services Authority.
In November 2019, Li was contacted by a seller and they met at the property the seller said he wanted to sell. The seller claimed to be the executive assistant with Power of Attorney to sell the house for the owner who lived in Toronto.
Li was told the owner had a bad experience with the tenant and just wanted to sell the house, according to documents posted by the BC Financial Services Authority.
Li told the seller that homes in that neighbourhood were selling for about $2.1 million but the house’s poor condition would likely affect the value.
“The Property was in superficially poor condition,” the Financial Services report says. “It was missing all removable appliances including the fridge, washer, dryer, and dishwasher. Some copper piping had been taken from the mechanical room in the garage and a bathroom cabinet was missing legs. The backyard fence was missing a panel and the back door was broken.
“Photos of the premises disclose that portions of the cabinet laminated paneling were lifting below the range hoods and that there were some deficiencies in the painting in at least two of the bedrooms.”
Given that, the seller said the owner would be willing to let it go for $1.8 million.
Li went back to her office where David Chian Wei Yang, a licenced representative with the firm, said he might have a buyer.
What followed was a complicated exchange of offers and unsuccessful attempts to get proper identification and other documentation from the sellers, as well as the sellers not filling out proper forms such as a listing agreement.
The seller wanted a quick sale and agreed, within a matter of days, to accept $1,725,000.
Li was paid more than $35,000 for her commission and Yang more than $23,000 for his.
During the course of the affair, managing brokers Lo Ming Lee and Lok Chi Annie Fong got involved. Even though they suggested to the others that this might be a scam, they were each fined $50,000 for not providing proper supervision to Li and Yang.
The real owner got wind of the scam and sued the scammers and the realtors. That suit has been settled, the Financial Services report says, but does not provide details.
The Financial Services reports are spread through five separate rulings with participants from outside the real estate firm referred to as numbered owners, sellers or individuals.
But it appears Li and Yang were also involved in an effort to try to resell the house in January 2020 for $2,150,000.
That led to charges of fraud against people from outside the real estate firm. That suit has yet to be resolved.
Along with the fines, the four realtors have to pay enforcement expenses of $5,000 to $7,000 each to BC Financial Services, take certain courses and have other restrictions and/or accept supervision of their activities for various periods of times.
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