Consent Order

Published on
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Licensee
Stephen (Steve) Wong
Brokerage at Time of Sanctioned Activity
Sutton Group-West Coast Realty
Current Brokerage
Sutton Group-West Coast Realty, Vancouver
Consent Order Date
30 December 2020

Summary

A discipline committee of the Real Estate Council of British Columbia (the “Council”) accepted the Consent Order Proposal submitted by Stephen Kwong Chiu Wong (“Mr. Wong”) and Steve Wong Personal Real Estate Corporation (“SW Personal Real Estate Corporation”), and found that Mr. Wong and SW Personal Real Estate Corporation committed professional misconduct when:

  1. he entered into a multiple listing agreement with the seller (the “Seller”) of a property (the “Property”) when he knew or ought to have known that the Seller had previously entered into an exclusive listing agreement with another listing agent, thereby exposing the Seller to liability for two commissions;
  2. on both of the dates below, he failed to properly disclose the nature of the representation that he was providing to a potential buyer of the Property when he prepared and presented an offer that stated that the potential buyer had no agency relationship with him, in circumstances where he was representing the potential buyer,
    1. March 15, 2015, with respect to potential buyer AYL; and
    2. March 28, 2015 with respect to potential buyer SHD;
  3. he prepared a contract of purchase and sale, dated March 28, 2015, respecting the Property in which he:
    1. identified himself as the listing agent when he knew or ought to have known that other listing agents were engaged as the listing agents for the Property pursuant to the exclusive listing agreement;
    2. failed to present the contract of purchase and sale to the other listing agents who he knew or ought to have known were engaged as the listing agents for the Property pursuant to the exclusive listing agreement;
    3. sought and received both the listing brokerage and the cooperating brokerage commission in connection with the sale of the Property when he knew or ought to have known that the other listing agents were entitled to remuneration pursuant to the terms of the exclusive listing agreement, thereby depriving the other listing agents of remuneration they were contractually entitled to and exposing the Seller to civil liability;
  4. further, Mr. Wong committed conduct unbecoming a licensee within the meaning of sections 35(2) of the Real Estate Services Act, when he engaged in the conduct set out in paragraphs (1) and (3) above.

Results

A discipline committee of the Council has ordered, and Mr. Wong and SW Personal Real Estate Corporation have agreed to, the following penalties:

  1. a suspension of 1 month (from February 1, 2021, to March 1, 2021, inclusive);
  2. a discipline penalty of $7,500;
  3. enforcement expenses of $1,500; and
  4. successful completion of the following courses:
    1. Ethics in Business Practice Course;
    2. Real Estate Trading Services Remedial Education Course.

Contraventions

  • Real Estate Services Act
    • 35 (1)(a) and (2) [Misconduct by licensee]
      Read More
  • Real Estate Rules
    • 3-3(a) [Duties to clients]
      Read More
    • 3-4 [Duty to act honestly and with reasonable care and skill]
      Read More
    • 5-10 [Disclosure of representation in trading services]
      Read More

PDF Files

Consent Order

Full consent order is available as a PDF.

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