The body charged with regulating B.C.’s real estate industry is launching an anonymous tip line to report misconduct by real estate agents or other industry professionals.
The line was one of 28 recommendations made by the Independent Advisory Group nearly two years ago, after it was established to probe shady dealings in B.C.’s real estate market.
People who witness something suspicious in a real estate transaction will be able to leave a tip, either by phone or online.
The tip will then be followed up by trained investigators with the Real Estate Council of B.C., said executive officer Erin Seeley.
LISTEN: BC Real Estate Council creates tip line for suspicious transactions
“We will be reviewing every tip, in doing so we’ll be able to identify whether there may be grounds for misconduct, and may be grounds for further investigation,” Seeley told CKNW’s Simi Sara.
Seeley said the organization has been adding staff to ensure it has enough resources to properly investigate — that’s one of the reasons why it took so long to establish the tip line.
The new tip line will operate in addition to the existing complaints process, and Seeley admitted there’s already a backlog there.
“As with most regulators we do have an inventory of complaints, and in particular, the council in 2016-2017 received over 900 complaints,” she said.
“So it’s been our biggest priority is how to respond effectively to those to make sure we investigate them, and to make sure there’s a due process behind all of them.”
That possible backlog is the chief concern of Vancouver real estate agent Keith Roy, who has been outspoken on issues of misconduct in the industry.
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Roy said he’s concerned that with a slew of new tips coming in, staff who are already overworked will find themselves overwhelmed.
“I have a client right now who, we’ve had some difficulties on the other side with the other realtor, and they’ve launched a complaint and they’ve been told it could be months before they see a response. And that’s the real problem,” Roy told Global News.
“You can set up all of these government hotlines to call and make complaints, but if you don’t have people to sort through the complaints and deal with them effectively you’re kind of building the front end before the back and, and that’s dangerous.”
However, if implemented effectively, Roy said the line could also help to reduce confusion about complaints to the Real Estate Council versus those made to local real estate boards.
The Real Estate Council of B.C. is a Crown agency and official public regulator, while real estate boards are self-regulating industry associations whose decisions often aren’t made public.
The province announced in October 2016 that it was increasing the maximum fine the council can levy, from $10,000 to $250,000.
However only four fines over $10,000 have been handed out since then.
Seeley said that could change in the coming months, as older files are closed and discipline meted out.
Anyone who wants to make a complaint through the new tip line can do so by phone at 1-833-420-2400 or make an anonymous submission online here.