File # 13-358 and 14-336 IN THE MATTER OF THE REAL ESTATE SERVICES ACT S.B.C. 2004, c. 42 AND IN THE MATTER OF DAN LAZAR (134284) CONSENT ORDER RESPONDENT: Dan Lazar, Managing Broker, Solution Property Management Ltd., while licensed as Managing Broker with Louwin Management Ltd. DATE OF REVIEW MEETING: September 29, 2016 DATE OF CONSENT ORDER: September 29, 2016 CONSENT ORDER REVIEW COMMITTEE: M. Leslie G. Martin J. Pearson T. O Grady ALSO PRESENT: R.O. Fawcett, Executive Officer G. Thiele, Director, Legal Services J. Gossen, Legal Counsel for the Real Estate Council PROCEEDINGS: On September 29, 2016 the Consent Order Review Committee (the Committee ) resolved to accept the Agreed Statement of Facts, Proposed Acceptance of Findings and Waiver ( ASF ) submitted by Dan Lazar. WHEREAS the ASF, a copy of which is attached hereto, has been executed by Dan Lazar and on behalf of the Council;
Dan Lazar Page 2 NOW THEREFORE, the Committee having made the findings proposed in the attached ASF, and in particular having found that Dan Lazar committed professional misconduct within the meaning of section 35(1)(a) of the Real Estate Services Act, orders that Dan Lazar: 1. be reprimanded; and 2. pay enforcement expenses of this Consent Order to the Council in the amount of $1,500.00 within sixty (60) days from the date of this Order. If Dan Lazar fails to comply with any term of this Order, the Council may suspend or cancel his licence without further notice to him, pursuant to sections 43(3) and 43(4) of the Real Estate Services Act. Dated this day of September, 2016 at the City of Vancouver, British Columbia. ON BEHALF OF THE CONSENT ORDER REVIEW COMMITTEE Attch. M. Leslie M. Leslie, Chair Consent Order Review Committee
File #13-358 and #14-336 IN THE MATTER OF THE REAL ESTATE SERVICES ACT S.B.C. 2004, c. 42 IN THE MATTER OF DAN LAZAR (134284) AGREED STATEMENT OF FACTS, PROPOSED ACCEPTANCE OF FINDINGS AND WAIVER The following agreement has been reached between Dan Lazar ( Mr. Lazar ) and the Real Estate Council of British Columbia (the Council ). A. Mr. Lazar hereby consents to an Order to be made pursuant to sections 41 and 43 of the Real Estate Services Act that he be reprimanded. B. Mr. Lazar agrees to pay enforcement expenses of this Consent Order to the Council in the amount of $1,500.00 within sixty (90) days from the date of the Order herein. C. Mr. Lazar, further consent to an Order that if he fails to comply with any of the terms of the Order set out above, a Discipline Hearing Committee may suspend or cancel his licence without further notice to him pursuant to section 43(3) and 43(4) of the Real Estate Services Act. D. As a basis for this Order, Mr. Lazar acknowledges and agrees that the facts set forth herein are correct: 1. Mr. Lazar was at all relevant times was licensed as managing broker with Louwin Management Ltd. 2. Mr. Lazar s licensing history is as follows: Start Date End Date Licensing History Licence Level Licence Category 2016/08/01 Present Solution Property Management Ltd. (X032624) 2014/03/27 2016/08/01 Louwin Management Ltd. (X026305) Managing Broker Managing Broker Rental, Strata Rental, Strata
FINDINGS AND WAIVER Page 4 2006/06/28 2014/03/26 Louwin Management Ltd. (X026305) Managing Broker Strata File #13-358 2006/03/27 2006/06/28 Dan Lazar (134284) Sole Proprietor Strata 1999/11/09 2000/02/01 Canreal Management Corporation (X021412) 1999/03/01 1999/11/03 York-West Asset Management Group (B.C.) Inc. (X018484) Representative Representative Rental Rental 3. On February 24 th, 2011, Mr. Lazar and Louwin Management entered into a strata management agreement with a developer of a strata property located at 1XXXX Steveston Highway, Richmond (the developer ), who was at that time acting on behalf of the Strata Corporation BCS 4XXX (the Strata ). 4. Although the occupancy date for the development was set as March 1 st, 2011, the sales of the units were very slow and the first conveyance of a unit did not occur until March 22 nd, 2011. By April 1 st, 2011, only two units had been sold. 5. Mr. Lazar had a verbal agreement with the developer whereby the developer would pay all outstanding strata fees and required contingency reserve contributions for unsold units in the development. Mr. Lazar stated that he repeatedly attempted to collect the outstanding amounts from the developer, but the developer stalled on making payments until all of the units were sold. 6. On May 26 th, 2013, Mr. Lazar brought in B.K., at that time a licensee to work for Louwin Management and help manage the account that the brokerage had with the Strata. 7. At the first AGM, held on June 24 th, 2013, Mr. Lazar explained that reconciliation would be arranged for the developer to pay back the outstanding strata fees to the Strata. By the date of the first AGM, the developer had failed to make a payment for the strata fees of unsold units, and had not seeded the Contingency Reserve Fund ( CRF ) with the required 10% payment. 8. On September 3 rd, 2013, counsel for Strata wrote a letter to Louwin Management advising that the relationship between the brokerage and Strata was terminated. 9. Ultimately, the developer and the Strata settled the financial issues between them with the developer paying most if not all of the monies owed to the Strata. In addition, the brokerage did not collect the strata management fees owed to it from the Strata.
FINDINGS AND WAIVER Page 5 File #14-336 10. In the month of November 2009, Louwin Management became the property management company for the client JC and her property located at 308 9373 Hemlock Drive, Richmond, B.C. ( The Property ). The property was rented to a tenant from November 2009 to February 2013. 11. From March until September 2013, the property was vacant and from April to August of 2013 Louwin Management did not prepare rental statements for the property. 12. From September 2013 until February 2014, the property was rented to a new tenant and the rental statements were prepared by B.K. for the brokerage. 13. From March 2014 to May 2014, the property was vacant according to the rental statements provided to the Council by the brokerage. 14. In August of 2014, BL, JC s accountant, contacted Mr. Lazar about the 2012 and 2013 rental statements and NR4 Summaries. 15. On September 3, 2014, Louwin Management sent the 2011 and 2012 rental statements to B.L. 16. On September 3, 2014, B.L. emailed Mr. Lazar about the discrepancies found in the rental statements of 2012. BL also asked for the 2012, 2013 and year to date 2014 statements and a copy of the issued NR4 Summary. 17. On September 4, 2014, Mr. Lazar instructed B.K. to provide BL with the documents she requested. 18. On September 25, 2014, B.K. sent an email to inform JC and BL that he had rented the property to a new tenant on a month-to-month basis, despite not having JC s approval for this short term rental. B.K. provided a copy of the unsigned tenancy agreement to JC and asked if she would like him to evict the tenant. 19. On September 30, 2014, JC sent an email to instruct B.K. not to evict the tenant. Instead, she did not want him to rent the property to another tenant when the short term tenant decided to move out. JC demanded the original, signed, rental agreement with the existing tenant, all accounting records from January 2012 to September 30, 2014 and NR4 Summaries for 2012 and 2013. 20. On April 13, 2015, Mr. Lazar reminded B.K. to respond to JC s complaint. 21. On April 14, 2015, B.K. sent an email to inform Mr. Lazar that he denied allegations from JC and he was working with a lawyer to draft up a letter.
FINDINGS AND WAIVER Page 6 22. On April 14, 2015, Mr. Lazar checked the statements provided by B.K., asked B.K. to correct those statements and send him a copy of the draft letter from B.K s lawyer. 23. On May 14, 2015, Council received a statement from B.K. who contended that there were discrepancies found on the rental statements and he intended to discuss the matter with JC s accountant to correct the error. 24. B.K. is no longer licensed. 25. Mr. Lazar advised the Council he has left the brokerage as of August 1, 2016 and the brokerage is in the process of being wound up. In order to get the wind up report, the brokerage must pay an audit debt of $11,182.50 which was incurred in order to get the rental accounting books up to date. Previous Discipline History 26. Neither the brokerage which has been licensed since 1997 nor Mr. Lazar have any previous discipline history with Council. E. Proposed Acceptance of Findings and Waiver 1. Based on the Agreed Statement of Facts as outlined herein, and without making any admissions of liability, Dan Lazar is prepared to accept the following findings if made against him by the Council s Consent Order Review Committee: (a) Dan Lazar committed professional misconduct within the meaning of section 35(1)(a) of the Real Estate Services Act in that he: File #13-358 (i) contravened section 3-1 of the Council Rules in that he failed to ensure that Louwin Management maintained trust accounts for Strata BCS 4XXX in accordance with RESA, the Regulations and Council Rules when he failed to collect the outstanding Contingency Reserve Fund contributions from the developer. File #14-336 (i) contravened sections 3-1(3) and 8-6 of the Council Rules by failing to retain and provide property management services and control of the rental property management records when requested by the client. 2. Mr. Lazar hereby waives his right to appeal pursuant to section 54 of the Real Estate Services Act. 3. Mr. Lazar acknowledges that he has a right to seek independent legal advice before signing this Agreed Statement of Facts, Proposed Acceptance of Findings and Waiver.
FINDINGS AND WAIVER Page 7 4. Mr. Lazar acknowledges and is aware that the Council will publish the Consent Order and penalty herein in its Report from Council newsletter, on the Council s website, and on CanLII, a website for legal research. 5. Mr. Lazar acknowledges and is aware that the Superintendent of Real Estate has the right, pursuant to section 54 of the Real Estate Services Act, to appeal any decision of the Council, including this Agreed Statement of Facts, Proposed Acceptance of Findings, and Waiver and Consent Order. 6. The Agreed Statement of Facts and Proposed Acceptance of Findings contained herein are made for the sole purpose of resolving a complaint being considered by the Council and for that purpose only. Such agreed statement of facts and proposed acceptance of findings cannot be used in any other proceeding of any kind. Jessica G. Gossen Dan Lazar Jessica G. Gossen, Senior Legal Counsel Real Estate Council of British Columbia As to Part D only (Agreed Statement of Facts) Dan Lazar As to Parts A, B, C, D and E (proposed penalty, Agreed Statement of Facts, Proposed Acceptance of Findings and Waiver) Dated 28 day of September, 2016 Dated 13 day of September 2016