A Winnipeg real estate agent has been ordered to pay $6,000 in costs and temporarily suspended for failing to disclose accurate information about a condo dwelling to a buyer six years ago.
Rahim Omar Mirza brokered the sale of a Crescentwood condo to a woman without revealing foundation issues with the lower unit of the two-condo building, according to a settlement agreement between Mirza and the Manitoba Securities Commission filed with the Manitoba Financial Services Agency late last month.
According to the settlement agreement with the Manitoba government agency, Mirza showed the woman the condo on Oct. 12, 2018. She made an offer to purchase it that was accepted by the seller, whom Mirza was also representing. The offer was not subject to a home inspection.
The woman took possession of the condo on Nov. 14, 2018, and later became aware it had foundation issues.
She paid $34,535 to repair the foundation, according to her statement of allegations, which was filed with the commission last summer.
She met with the owner of the condo’s upper unit on March 3, 2019, who provided her with a home inspection report commissioned by a previous prospective buyer of the lower unit.
Inspection discovered foundation issues
An offer to buy the condo had been made on July 7, 2018, but it was subject to a home inspection.
A foundation contractor who carried out an inspection found problems with the front foundation wall, and the sale was cancelled.
Mirza was aware of the inspection, according to the settlement agreement, but he maintains he was not provided with a copy of the foundation contractor’s report.
However, in a text message to the buyer on Oct. 22 of that year, Mirza said he “just wanted to reiterate the fact that the condo building was 100% re-done in 2003 and the roof in 2015.”
Another message he sent her, three days later, said “we’ve had two other accepted offers since we listed [the condo] and those simply fell through because the buyers credit wasn’t good enough to get the mortgage.”
A Manitoba Securities Commission panel approved a settlement agreement at a hearing on Dec. 28, 2023, stating it believed Mirza ‘committed professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming a registrant.’ (CBC)
The settlement agreement also says that the woman who bought the lower unit received copies of two emails between the person who owned the upper unit and the previous owner of the lower unit.
The June 12, 2018, email from the owner of the upper condo suite stated, “are we going to get that structural engineer to come in to look at the foundation?… I assume we do have some big structural issues so I was thinking that should be something we do regardless of who you may sell to.”
The July 13, 2018, reply from the then-owner of the lower condo suite stated, “Here I introduce Rahim Mirza, agent for the sale.… I don’t believe the structural issues will be so dire that I would be sued.”
When the commission asked Mirza about the buyer’s allegations, he said in a response dated Jan. 2, 2020, that he was unaware of any pre-existing structural or foundation issues from the seller.
Mirza reiterated that stance in an interview with two commission investigators on March 4, 2021.
Apologized for conduct ‘contrary to public interest’
In a letter to the commission on March 21, 2022, Mirza admitted he was dealing with stressful life events during the sale of the condo, which impacted both his work and his personal life.
“I sincerely apologize if I had fallen below the standard expected by the [commission] of a limited joint representation,” Mirza wrote in the letter.
He acknowledged his conduct in the transaction was “contrary to public interest.”
In August of 2020, the condo buyer filed a civil lawsuit in the Court of King’s Bench against Mirza and the previous owner. The matter was settled out of court, and the terms of the settlement are confidential, the settlement agreement with the Manitoba Securities Commission says.
A commission panel approved the settlement agreement at a hearing on Dec. 28, 2023, stating it believed Mirza “committed professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming a registrant.”
In a document outlining the reasons for its decision, the panel noted Mirza’s counsel had noted he has not been subject to any other complaints to the commission, and that he was remorseful for the way he had conducted himself.
The panel also noted that Mirza has separately reached a financial settlement with the buyer.
He was ordered to pay $6,000 to the commission in costs, and his registration as a real estate salesperson was suspended from Jan. 1 to 31 of this year.
Mirza also has to abide by other conditions of registration for one year, and is required to complete an education course before the end of January 2025.
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.
