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This morning I received a very naive email from a young man who was trying to find buyers for a lakeview resort condo development in a vacation area of British Columbia. After exchanging a couple of emails, only because a relative of mine told him he should contact me, it became quite clear to me was was providing real estate trading services without a license in expectation of a 'kickback' [his words] commission from the development's Director of Marketing. I told him he was clearly providing Real Estate Trading Services as defined in the Real Estate Services Act of British Columbia.
I thought it appropriate for this young man and myself to review the definition and the R.E.S.A. with respect to this matter. Real Estate Trading Services are defined as:
"trading services" means any of the following services provided to or on behalf of a party to a trade in real estate:
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(a) advising on the appropriate price for the real estate;
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(b) making representations about the real estate;
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(c) finding the real estate for a party to acquire;
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(d) finding a party to acquire the real estate;
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(e) showing the real estate;
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(f) negotiating the price of the real estate or the terms of the trade in real estate;
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(g) presenting offers to dispose of or acquire the real estate;
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(h) receiving deposit money paid in respect of the real estate
This young man was clearly making efforts of 'finding a party to acquire the real estate' and 'making representations about the real estate' . What about those promised 'kickbacks'?
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3 (1) A person must not provide real estate services to or on behalf of another, for or in expectation of remuneration, unless the person is
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(a) licensed under this Part to provide those real estate services, or
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(b) exempted by subsection (3) or the regulations from the requirement to be licensed under this Part in relation to the provision of those real estate services.
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(2) A licence required by this Part is additional to any licence, registration, certificate, enrollment or qualification required under any other Act.
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(3) In addition to any exemption provided by regulation, the following are exempt from the requirement to be licensed under this Part:
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(a) a person acting under the authority of a court;
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(b) a trustee in bankruptcy, custodian, receiver, receiver manager or liquidator who is appointed under a provincial or federal enactment, in respect of real estate services undertaken by the person in that capacity;
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(c) an executor or administrator of an estate, in respect of real estate services provided in relation to real estate owned or held by the estate;
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(d) a trustee, in respect of real estate services provided under the terms of a will, marriage settlement or deed of trust;
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(e) a financial institution that has a trust business authorization under the Financial Institutions Act, in respect of real estate services provided in relation to real estate that it owns, holds or administers;
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(f) a practising lawyer as defined in section 1 of the Legal Profession Act, in respect of real estate services provided in the course of the person's practice.
Shall we consider the penalties? Yes we shall:
- (2) An individual who commits an offence under section 118 [offences] is liable
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(a) on a first conviction, to a fine of not more than $50 000, or to imprisonment for not more than 2 years, or to both, and
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(b) on each subsequent conviction, to a fine of not more than $100 000, or to imprisonment for not more than 2 years, or to both.
In summary, a couple of thousand dollars 'kickback' is hardly worth the grief, n'est-ce pas?
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