From: brewnoserii@gmail.com   
      
   So much for the Real Estate Council of BC, eh?  This is another example of an   
   entity that polices itself.  And doesn't.   
   __________________________________________   
      
   Globe and Mail - June 3, 2016   
      
      
   Complainants puzzled by lack of action on probe of Vancouver realty firm   
      
      
   Realtors who found shredded documents outside New Coast Realty, prior to a   
   scheduled audit, not contacted by regulator, they say   
      
   It was a sign something unusual might be happening at New Coast Realty, a   
   Vancouver-area firm under investigation by the industry self-regulator.   
      
   In a dumpster outside the firm's Richmond office were shredded real-estate   
   contracts and other papers – some showing personal client information.  On   
   one document, signatures had been altered with white-out.  Four realtors from   
   another brokerage made    
   the discovery by chance while checking the garbage for some missing lawn signs.   
      
   "It was very funny.  There was a document of a deal I saw ... we just made   
   that deal," said realtor John Zhou, who was the buyer's agent at the other   
   brokerage. "When we find documents in the garbage, it was one week after the   
   deal was done. That was    
   weird."   
      
   What the group did not know is that the regulator was set to audit the same   
   New Coast office three days after their Feb. 21 discovery.   
      
   "While the audit is confidential, there was nothing major identified or   
   found," New Coast told The Globe and Mail later in a statement.   
      
   The documents were found in the dumpster immediately after a Globe1   
   investigation first revealed questionable practices by New Coast agents,   
   including the controversial "shadow flipping," in Vancouver's frenzied real   
   estate market.     
      
   The Globe's reporting led the Real Estate Council of B.C. – the industry   
   self-regulator – to promise a "thorough and wide-ranging consumer protection   
   investigation" of the firm.  Despite that, investigators have not contacted   
   the realtors who found    
   the discarded paperwork – whose names were given to the regulator weeks ago.   
      
   "Well, it may be evidence," said a realtor who gave The Globe pictures of what   
   the group found.  He asked to not be named.  "It's very interesting they   
   destroyed original papers with signatures."   
      
   The owner of the firm where the four realtors work said he reported the   
   incident in April, after the regulator asked people in the industry to come   
   forward with information.   
      
   Brokerages are legally required to keep financial and contract records for   
   seven years.   Several managing brokers said client information should never   
   be thrown in a dumpster.   
      
   Mr. Zhou said the agents who found the documents said they do not understand   
   why investigators did not follow up right away.  The complainant received an   
   e-mail from the regulator asking for the pictures only after The Globe   
   contacted the council on    
   Wednesday about the matter.   
      
   The realtors are not alone in wondering what happened with the investigation   
   – four months since that initial audit.   New Coast has faced no penalties   
   since.   
      
   Sukhjit Bassi filed a complaint with the council in early April.  He claims   
   one of New Coast's top realtors deceived him, selling his house for less than   
   market value to a speculator with whom she had arranged deals before.   That   
   buyer then flipped the    
   property immediately for a $100,000 profit.   
      
   "I am not surprised at all that I have not been contacted [by the council],"   
   Mr. Bassi said.  "We Canadians live in a society where there are almost no   
   consequences to bad behaviour."   
      
   Don Stutt calls the promise to investigate "a sham."  His house was relisted   
   by the brokerage for $400,000 more than he received for it, after the wife of   
   New Coast's owner snapped it up, under what Mr. Stutt calls false pretenses.    
   The Globe reported on    
   his case two months ago, but he has not heard from the regulator either.   
      
   "I think if they seriously want to deal with it, they should step up to the   
   plate," Mr. Stutt said.   
      
   The Globe also revealed in April 2 that the firm's owner, Ze Yu Wu, trained   
   realtors to talk homeowners into selling quickly for less than their property   
   is likely worth. The council put conditions on the company's licenses as a   
   result, including that Mr.   
    Wu must not do any more training.   
      
   New Coast then announced Mr. Wu was "stepping aside" from the firm's   
   operations.  Two weeks later, a Globe photographer took a picture of him   
   arriving at the Richmond office during business hours.  Two managers working   
   at competing firms nearby said Mr.    
   Wu is at the office regularly.   
      
   The Globe asked the company to explain that, and the documents in the   
   dumpster, but it declined to comment.   
      
   Last month, the regulator said it has hired a high-profile B.C. lawyer,   
   Leonard Doust, to advise on disciplinary actions for New Coast "or referral of   
   any matters requiring a criminal investigation to the appropriate law   
   enforcement agency."   
      
   During the same period, James Edge said he was shocked to find a New Coast   
   realtor advertising to sell his house for $278,000 more than he had sold it   
   for, before his deal closed, a classic shadow-flip scenario.   He said he   
   figured a brokerage under    
   investigation would steer clear of that practice.   
      
   "I thought it should have been stopped already," Mr. Edge said.   He filed a   
   complaint, but no one has contacted him.   
      
   The head of B.C.'s Financial Institutions Commission is leading a review of   
   the industry's regulatory system, also as a result of The Globe's reporting.    
   Carolyn Rogers said she is surprised complainants have not been interviewed.   
      
   "That shouldn't happen," she said, adding that investigators in her office   
   would have picked up the phone as soon as possible.  "We try to gather more   
   information. So we would go back to the source...and the council has similar   
   powers that we do."   
      
   In a statement on Wednesday, the council said everyone will be contacted "in   
   due course."   
      
   "The investigation of activities at New Coast Realty is a large and complex   
   undertaking involving a number of complainants," it said.   
      
   The regulator also heard from Port Coquitlam councillor Brad West, who wrote   
   to say he was offended recently when his constituents were "blanketed" with   
   New Coast flyers offering to sell their homes quickly.   
      
   "The council goes out with much fanfare saying we have heard your complaints   
   and we are putting them under restrictions – but to regular people, it   
   doesn't seem to have made a difference at all," Mr. West said.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)