A Dartmouth, N.S., real estate agent has been fined $2,500 and had her professional licence suspended for a month after taking a man’s dog and failing to return the pet.
Mike Smaggus said real estate agent Sarah Sullivan took his bichon frise, Snoopy, under the pretense of dog-sitting for a night last spring, but instead rehomed the animal.
“This conduct is dishonourable, unprofessional, harmful to the best interests of the public and to the reputation of the industry at large,” the Nova Scotia Real Estate Commission said in its decision.
At the time, Smaggus and Snoopy were living in a rented north-end Dartmouth house that was listed for sale. Though Sullivan was not the listing agent, she had been to the home.
Smaggus said Sullivan offered to buy Snoopy, but he told her the dog was not for sale. She then offered to take the dog for a night while Smaggus moved out and found a new, pet-friendly place to live.
Dog rehomed
Smaggus said Sullivan gave him $200, either to help pay for the move or for Snoopy’s care. When he tried to get the dog back, Sullivan told him that Snoopy was no longer with her and that he had been rehomed.
When Smaggus tried to get Snoopy back, Sullivan used or threatened “to use information acquired only as a result of her access to the property as a real estate licensee,” the real estate commission said in its decision.
The commission also accused Sullivan of providing false or misleading information to investigators on several occasions. The board also noted a prior disciplinary action against Sullivan in 2014 when she provided false information to the commission.
Not a theft
Smaggus said he called police but was told it was a civil matter, not a theft, since money had changed hands.
“I’m pretty sure I won’t get the dog back,” he told CBC News. “It’s left a pretty bad taste in my mouth, the whole thing.”
Smaggus put out an appeal on social media, but has not heard anything. He said he doesn’t think there’s much he can do.
“Whoever has my dog has had him since last June, so I don’t think it’s really fair for me to take the dog back,” he said. “I’d like to see him, make sure he’s just doing alright.”
Sullivan told CBC News she is unable to tell her side of the story on the advice of her lawyer. The suspension on her licence is expected to be lifted in mid-February.
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.
