A pair of B.C. real estate agents has agreed to pay more than $130,000 in combined penalties for misrepresenting themselves as a team and disclosing information that should have been kept confidential. Anthony Scott Browton and Linsey Gail Hulls entered separate consent order agreements with the B.C. Financial Services Authority earlier this year. The regulator published redacted versions of the orders on its website earlier this month and issued a news release about the misconduct. The consent orders resolve misconduct allegations that date back to a complaint the BCFSA received in March 2020. According to Browton’s agreement, the misconduct involved a pair of properties on the Sunshine Coast, one in Sechelt and the other in Halfmoon Bay. The complainant hired Browton to help with purchasing the Halfmoon Bay property, and met multiple times with Browton and Hulls together at their shared office space. “He understood them to be working together as a real estate team,” the document reads. Browton had previously submitted an offer on behalf of a different client for the Halfmoon Bay property, which was not accepted, according to the consent order. As part of his work for the complainant, Browton sent Hulls a copy of the first client’s offer, as well as that client’s inspection report for the property. He did not have written permission from the client to disclose this information, the consent order notes. According to the document, the first client remained interested in the Halfmoon Bay property, and Browton continued to work on that client’s behalf, notifying the seller that the client may be interested in making another offer if the complainant’s was not accepted. Ultimately, this is what happened. The original client’s new offer on the Halfmoon Bay property was accepted, and the complainant purchased the Sechelt property, again believing that Browton and Hulls were working together. Hulls co-ordinated the inspection of the Sechelt property, according to the consent order. The BCFSA requires real estate licensees to register as a team if they present themselves to the public as a single entity, regularly act as designated agents of the same client or “regularly work together in a manner that creates implied agency with the same party,” according to the regulator’s release. “These requirements help ensure transparency and accountability for consumers,” the release reads. “When licensees present themselves as a team or work together in a way that creates shared agency relationships, consumers should clearly understand who is representing them and who owes them professional and fiduciary duties.” Both Browton and Hulls admitted in their respective consent orders that they had committed professional misconduct by presenting themselves as a team when they were not registered as such. They also admitted to sharing confidential client information without written consent, and Browton admitted that he failed to disclose a conflict of interest regarding the Halfmoon Bay property. In her consent order, Hulls agreed to pay a $40,000 discipline penalty, plus $2,000 in “enforcement expenses.” Browton agreed to pay a $90,000 penalty, plus $2,000 in enforcement expenses.
