Balderson

Champions of B.C.’s leaky-condo fight yesterday welcomed a court ruling upholding the suspension of a Vancouver realtor’s licence, but say the 45-day penalty handed to Edward Kwok Kei Wong is too lenient.

Wednesday, the B.C. Court of Appeal dismissed Wong’s appeal of a Real Estate Council of B.C. ruling suspending him for failing to fully disclose water damage problems to would-be homebuyers.

“The 45 days seems too little,” said James Balderson of the Coalition of Leaky Condo Owners. “We have too many owners of leaky, rotten condos, who have been deceived, misled and not provided with full disclosure.

“The realtors are too much interested in their transaction fees rather than assisting the buyer.”

Carmen Maretic of the Consumer Advocacy in Support for Homeowners Society said a longer suspension would have helped allay public mistrust of the realtors: “I’m a realtor . . . [and] frankly, I don’t know if a 45-day suspension is a real deterrent.”

Wong, of Edward Wong and Associates, was originally disciplined for 60 days three years ago for failing to fully disclose water damage to a client. He provided strata minutes to buyers, but didn’t reveal “latent defects” in the building in which he owned and sold suites.

Wong appealed the suspension to the Commercial Appeals Commission but lost, then took his case to the appeal court. The court ruled the commission had to re-evaluate the suspension and it was reduced to 45 days.

© The Vancouver Province 2004