A Toronto man renting a condominium apartment says real estate agents who showed it to prospective buyers disregarded COVID protocols. When he objected he was warned he could be evicted if he refused to allow others inside.
Connolly told Global News in a television interview that he asked the listing brokerage representing his landlord to ensure that touch surfaces were wiped down in his rented unit after showings.
The Ontario Real Estate Association, whose mandate is to help “realtors succeed in building stronger communities” according to its mission statement, directs members to take COVID protocols in showings seriously.
“Ensure door handles, light switches, counters, cabinet knobs and other high-touch surfaces are targeted. Once a showing is complete the home should be cleaned and disinfected again,” OREA writes in its guidance for safe in-person showings.
Connolly says there were seven showings on the first weekend, each with about two prospective buyers, and one group that included four visitors to his unit.
“Five of seven did not follow instructions to sanitize touch surfaces after viewing,” Connolly said.
Asked how he could be sure they were not compliant, Connolly said he was present for about half the visits.
“For the other showings I set up a camera for my own safety to watch them,” he said, adding he did not make recordings but watched at another location.
Connolly also said the brokerage did not attempt to maximize virtual visits before scheduling in-person showings as advised by OREA.
“They listed my unit using stock photos not of my unit which forced people to come in and look at my unit,” he said.
OREA instructs members that “the use of virtual open houses and virtual tools are still strongly recommended.”
“Conduct as much business as possible virtually,” OREA tells members on its website.
When Connolly, in a series of emails, reported his concerns that buyer agents were not following his requests in accordance with the OREA rules, he finally advised the brokerage that he would not permit further showings until cleaning was made a priority.
“If I didn’t back down they were going to move to evict me,” Connolly told Global News, providing an email sent by the brokerage raising the possibility of legal action and removal.
Conolly, a project manager in the construction sector, says he considered it a direct threat and he allowed showings to continue.
The listing brokerage is Pierre Carapetian Group, which boasts “Pierre is in the top .3 per cent of Toronto realtors…with over 14 years of experience.”
Carapetian’s website claims “We’ve facilitated over half a billion dollars in Toronto real estate transactions.”
When Global News contacted Carapetian for comment, an associate speaking on his behalf said “no sorry” in response to a request for a video interview, adding “he is booked this week.”
However, in a 465-word written statement, Carapetian asserted “we have done nothing illegal.”
Carapetian said his company “did try to accommodate” Connolly “as much…as reasonably possible.”
“We took precautions to call each showing agent and personally ask them to wipe down surfaces in addition to following the showing instructions,” the statement continued.
Carapetian said “we called the Landlord and Tenant Board to verify if the tenant’s request was reasonable” and that blocking of viewings could give the owner the opportunity to consider an eviction process.
Later, Carapetian accused Connolly of trying “at every turn to impede the sale of this property, deliberately and intentionally.”
The second-floor condominium unit, which Connolly had expressed an interest in buying after moving in about a year ago, has since been sold. Connolly says he understands he will soon receive an eviction notice because the new owner wishes to occupy the apartment.
One of Carapetian’s business associates, speaking on the broker’s behalf, had previously told Global News the written reference to eviction for not cooperating was “not a threat”.
In explaining that the agency “did everything we could” she suggested by telephone that Connolly could do his own housekeeping after the showings.
“Couldn’t he do the same thing? Couldn’t he just wipe down the surfaces?” the spokesperson said, before being reminded that Connolly was a tenant, not the unit’s owner.
Carapetian concluded the letter to Global News with a warning:
“We consider these types of statements on our business slanderous and misleading and we will seek damages for any false or misleading narratives,” Carapetian wrote.
Connolly says he raised the concerns about cleanliness and safety to alert other tenants in the province to make sure they assert their rights if their unit is put up for sale during the pandemic.
“So that every tenant is respected and their safe place where they should feel safe—at home during a pandemic when they’re told to stay at home—that they they have that protection.“
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
