The B.C. Real Estate Council is fighting back against B.C.'s Superintendent of Real Estate over the handling of a complaint that a McBride real estate agent misled a couple interested in purchasing property in the area.
In January, Michael Noseworthy, appointed in 2013 to oversee the industry council, filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court asking a judge to order the BCREC to hold a disciplinary hearing for Rodger Peterson.
In a response filed February 18, the BCREC said it had already dealt with the matter adequately when it opted to issue Peterson a letter of advisement rather than refer the matter to a hearing.
"A letter of advisement serves as a caution to licensees to engage in appropriate real estate practices in the future," the BCREC said in the response.
It said the step was taken after receiving a complaint in June 2013 that Peterson had misrepresented the boundaries of land the couple wanted to purchase.
The BCREC assigned a compliance officer to the matter, sparking a 3 1/2-year process, lengthened by a small claims action that was concluded in November 2016.
In January 2017, the officer submitted her report to the BCREC's complaints committee. It contained a summary of the complaint, her assessment, a detailed chronology and all evidence and submissions give to her by Peterson and the complainants.
A bit more than a month later, the committee made its decision and, according to the BCREC, the couple went to the superintendent and asked him to override the outcome.
In June 2017, Noseworthy ordered the BCREC to issue a notice of disciplinary hearing to Peterson and in September 2017, the BCREC said it was advised it was "functus officio" - a principle that once a board or tribunal has made a decision it has fulfilled its statutory duty and so had no further ability to consider the case.
"Having already disposed of the Complaint, its jurisdiction with respect to the matter was spent," the BCREC said in the response.
The BCREC differs with Noseworthy over a section of the Real Estate Act pertaining to when a notice of disciplinary hearing can be issued. While the superintendent can issue a notice prior to the BCREC's disposition of the complaint, the Council contends he cannot do so afterwards.
Even if a judge finds otherwise, the BCREC said Peterson must be treated in a "fair and just manner," and Noseworthy failed to do so when he did not give him notice and an opportunity to respond.
"The Council's determination of the Complaint was reached after careful consideration, in the exercise of its expertise, and with the benefit of appropriate deference," the BCREC said. "This Court should not interfere."
Both Noseworthy and a new slate of BCREC members were appointed in 2016 amid a frenzy of scandals related to the hot Metro Vancouver housing market and after an independent advisory group concluded the province's real estate industry had failed to regulate itself.
