Agent loses licence, faces $10,000 fine
Andy Ivens
Province
It’s one of the worst cases of real estate double-dealing in B.C. history.
Smrat (Sam) Sharma stole $45,000 from a Vancouver family last year — the last scam in a long list of transgressions going back to 2002 — which cost him his licence and earned him a $10,000 fine.
“We issued the maximum allowable fine, which is $10,000,” said Anthony Cavanaugh, communications officer for the Real Estate Council of B.C.
Sharma is barred from applying to get his realtor’s licence back for five years. He must submit to a grilling by a “qualification hearing panel” that would determine if Sharma had rehabilitated himself — if he seeks reinstatement.
“It’s not a slam dunk by any stretch,” said Cavanaugh.
David Zajdlik contracted to buy a house on West 33rd Avenue in tony Mackenzie Heights through Sharma in February 2005.
He wrote a cheque for $45,000 for a deposit, but Sharma deposited it into his own privately owned company, 655179 BC Ltd., instead of his brokerage’s trust account.
Sharma “admitted that he had stolen the $45,000 and that the funds were not in trust,” says an agreed statement of facts contained in a consent order signed by Sharma and RECBC’s lawyer this year.
The 16-page order mentions 16 other cases involving sales of property in the Lower Mainland in which Sharma admits he committed some form of misconduct.
The Financial Institutions Commission of B.C. is investigating possible criminal charges against Sharma, FICOM investigator Ken Fraser told The Province.
Zajdlik didn’t find out until moving day, March 31 of last year, that Sharma had bilked him.
Zadjlik and his wife had to scramble to move on time, emptying their bank accounts and extending lines of credit at the 11th hour.
Langara Realty waived Sharma’s $13,900 commission on the sale, and Zajdlik was able to recover his losses through the RECBC’s special compensation fund.
Sharma’s licence was suspended on April 15, 2005, two weeks after his theft was discovered. The fund’s compensation committee is now suing Sharma for the payment it made to cover Sharma’s theft.
TIPS FOR HOMEBUYERS
Prospective homebuyers have a number of ways to protect themselves in the Lower Mainland’s current overheated real-estate market:
– Never make out a deposit cheque to a personal company; only to a real-estate brokerage’s in-trust account. If an agent asks for this, call the Real Estate Council of B.C. at 604-683-9664;
– Check the council’s website www.recbc.ca to see if a real-estate agent has been disciplined;
– Use a lawyer or a notary public to convey the title of the property.
© The Vancouver Province 2006