B.C. realtor made $40K for doing absolutely nothing

A B.C. realtor that made more than $40,000 in commission even though she wasn't involved in the property sales, has been ordered to pay $9,000 by the regulator.

According to an April 21 B.C. Financial Services Authority decision, Sutton Group - Alliance R.E.S realtor Jaspreet Kaur Gill had her name added to sales paperwork so she'd get the commission although she had nothing to do with the transaction.

The decision says in 2014 another realtor, who is not named in the decision, obtained an exclusive listing for a property in Williams Lake that would pay a $100,000 commission.

"Ms. Gill says that (the other realtor) told her that he was going to put her name on the Referral Record because he was going to give the referral fee to someone, even though she was not in a client relationship with the seller," the decision says.

Gill made $18,051 from the sale of the Williams Lake property, and admitted she never met either the seller or the buyer.

The sales took place in 2014 before the rules were changed so realtors could not represent both a seller and a buyer.

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A couple of months later, Gill did much the same thing with houses in Chilliwack and Surrey.

The other realtor put Gill's name on the paperwork, even though she had nothing to do with the sale.

"Ms. Gill was aware that (the other realtor) entered her name on the documents relating to this transaction and understood that she would be earning commission on the transaction," the decision says.

Gill was paid $24,451 in commission.

According to the decision Gill said she provided secretarial and support work to the other realtor during the time of the transactions and that they both believed that this work entitled Gill to the commissions.

"No explanation was given as to how the split of the commission was determined," the decision says.

"Ms. Gill agreed that in order for a licensee to be remunerated, they should have provided some real estate services to the client, however in this case she could not recall any specific services that were provided," the decision says. "Ms. Gill confirms that she never met or dealt directly with any parties involved in any of the three transactions."

According to the decision, the other realtor said that Gill was new to real estate at the time and the other realtor wanted to help her make some money, so he put her name on the transactions.

The B.C. Financial Services Authority didn't buy it and fined Gill $7,500 plus $1,500 in costs to cover the investigation.

The B.C. Financial Services Authority also notes that the offence took place in 2014 when the maximum fine was $10,000. It has since changed to $250,000.

Along with the fine Gill will also have to take an Ethics in Business Practice course.

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