A second B.C. real estate agent has been ordered to pay more than $30,000 for failing to notify his clients about an impending special levy before they purchased a condo in White Rock.
He must also complete the Real Estate Trading Services Remedial Education Course at UBC’s Sauder School of Business within three months, according to the order.
The discipline stems from an incident that occurred in 2018. At the time, Dehideniya had only recently joined Sutton Group – West Coast Realty and was a junior member of the group that marketed itself as “The BC Elite Real Estate Group,” according to the consent order.
A retired couple from Langley approached the team’s lead – identified in the order only as SY – looking to move to White Rock. Dehideniya and SY conducted a property search, and the buyers eventually entered into an agreement to purchase a condo in a four-storey, 39-unit strata building that was built in 1986.
The agreement was subject to the review of strata documents – including meeting minutes, bylaws, financial statements and more – by the buyers.
According to the consent order, those documents were provided to Dehideniya the day before subject conditions were due to be removed and a deposit paid.
The order indicates Dehideniya didn’t share the documents with the buyers until June 8, 2018, well after they had completed their purchase and moved into the condo.
If they had received the documents on time, they likely would have known that the strata council was planning a special levy to pay for improvements to the building envelope, with a total cost anticipated to be around $2 million.
Instead, according to the order, the couple found out about their potentially large liability from one of their new neighbours – a strata council member – as they were moving in.
The final cost of the special levy for the buyers’ unit ended up being more than $61,000, a total they couldn’t afford. They ended up selling the property a little more than a year after buying it.
“Mr. Dehideniya told BCFSA that he did not provide the strata documents to the buyers as they did not have email and he could not print hundreds of pages and mail them,” the consent order reads.
2ND MISCONDUCT PENALTY IN CASE
In the consent order, Dehideniya agrees that his handling of the situation amounted to professional misconduct.
He acknowledges that he “failed to make inquiries into the strata’s building envelope remediation project,” “failed to obtain, review, and provide to the buyers a complete set of strata documents” prior to their purchase, and “failed to advise the buyers to seek independent professional advice regarding the potential risks associated with the building envelope remediation project.”
Dehideniya is the second member of the Sutton Group–West Coast Realty team to be fined for professional misconduct in relation to his handling of the White Rock condo purchase.
HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.
Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.
Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.
The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.
Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.
They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.
The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.
Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.
Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500
Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438
Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103
Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359
Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent
How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.
Environment Canada says the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.
The agency says strong winds with gusts up to 80 kilometres an hour will also develop on Saturday — the day thousands are expected to go to the polls across B.C. — in parts of Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.
Wednesday was the last day for advance voting, which started on Oct. 10.
More than 180,000 voters cast their votes Wednesday — the most ever on an advance voting day in B.C., beating the record set just days earlier on Oct. 10 of more than 170,000 votes.
Environment Canada says voters in the area of the atmospheric river can expect around 70 millimetres of precipitation generally and up to 100 millimetres along the coastal mountains, while parts of Vancouver Island could see as much as 200 millimetres of rainfall for the weekend.
An atmospheric river system in November 2021 created severe flooding and landslides that at one point severed most rail links between Vancouver’s port and the rest of Canada while inundating communities in the Fraser Valley and B.C. Interior.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
