Sun
VANCOUVER – A realtor who bought a False Creek condo from a client, then flipped it a month later for $95,000 more than she paid, has been told by the B.C. Supreme Court to repay her profit to the original owners.
Dian Dai-Qing Gao and her realtor husband Norman Chan with Sutton-Killarney Realty were sued by a couple who put their condo up for sale in the summer of 2005.
The couple had purchased a new home in West Vancouver and listed their condo for sale at $529,900 with Gao.
They had accepted an offer for $517,500, but the day the offer was to go through, it collapsed, the court was told.
At this point, Gao and Chan decided to purchase it themselves. The couple testified that they were assured by Gao that the apartment wouldn’t be flipped but would be kept by the realtors as an investment. Six days after Gao took possession, the condo was listed for sale at over $100,000 more than she paid for it.
Justice Janet Sinclair Prowse found that Gao had breached a fiduciary duty she had with the couple and ordered her to repay them the profit of about $70,000 she made.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007