Real estate brokers are taking advantage of elderly or vulnerable clients to line their pockets by buying their homes at a discount. Far from being anecdotal, this practice is denounced by organizations defending seniors.
The case of real estate broker Anna Estephan in Candiac, recently fined $50,000, is not unique. The broker manipulated clients to buy their property, her professional tribunal concluded. The Press consulted decisions of the disciplinary committee of the Organisme d’autoréglementation du courtage immobilier du Québec (OACIQ), notarial deeds and archival documents from Centris revealing several cases of malicious brokers who take advantage of their status as brokers to enrich themselves at the expense of their clients by purchasing their property themselves.
This type of offence is on the rise. The share of cases handled by the OACIQ trustee concerning conflict of interest offences increased from 31.6% in 2021 to 43.4% in 2022.
“This is financial abuse. It can’t continue like this,” denounces Gisèle Tassé-Goodman, president of the FADOQ Network, who has become aware of the cases.
“This resembles what we call insider trading. We severely condemn these practices,” adds Paul-René Roy, provincial president of the Quebec Association of Public and Parapublic Sector Retirees (AQRP).
$52,000 in a few days
Last year, an elderly couple from Notre-Dame-des-Prairies, near Joliette, lost $52,000 to their real estate broker Roger Fleury, of Groupe Sutton Synergie, reveal Centris archives and notarial deeds consulted by The Press.
This couple used the services of this broker, who did not put their house up for sale on Centris, the largest property sales site in Quebec, nor did any marketing to get them the best price for their property.
“I didn’t know him, it was my daughter who referred him to us,” explains Rita Olivier, who has lived in the house with her husband Claude Neveu since 1977, over the phone.
The house was purchased by a numbered company owned by Roger Fleury.
The notarial deed of March 24, 2023 indicates that he paid $186,000 for it. However, on March 1er April 2024, just eight days later, Roger Fleury puts it up for sale on Centris for $239,000. He does a proper marketing in order to get the best possible price this time.
Which he quickly gets. On April 6, 2024, he accepts an offer of $238,000 from a buyer who is not represented by a real estate broker. The transaction is finalized on May 5, 2024 at the same notary as in the first transaction, Anik Comtois.
Mme Olivier only learned about it when he called The Press that the broker had put her house back on the market a week after buying it from her, for $53,000 more. “No, I didn’t know,” the woman replies, not seeming to understand what happened.
” Oh come on ! “
Reached by telephone, Roger Fleury judges that he is not in breach of the Real Estate Brokerage Act of Quebec by acting in this way, even though the disciplinary committee of the Organisme d’autoréglementation du courtage immobilier du Québec has sanctioned several of its colleagues for the same type of practice.
Come on, you, go read the articles properly! Otherwise, we’ll give up the profession. There won’t be any more real estate brokers if we don’t have the right to buy.
Roger Fleury, reached by telephone
When asked again if he feels he has the right to buy a client’s house and resell it for more money a short time later, Roger Fleury answers without hesitation: “Well, come on! Because we’re brokers, we wouldn’t have the right to buy anything in life.”
“I’m legal in everything, everything, everything,” he continues.
“I bought a house, we’re going to stop there, and you’re going to call me back, it won’t be long, because I bought three others this year that I’m selling. In a month and a half, it’s going to be notarized, they’ve already been sold. I have the right to do that.”
Clear decision
In the decision by which Anna Estephan was found guilty last September, the disciplinary committee was categorical about this practice. “It is obvious that a real estate broker cannot place himself in a situation where he could prefer his interests to those of his client. Similarly, when a real estate broker operates another business in the real estate field, he must absolutely avoid having this business compromise his integrity, independence or competence.”
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Real estate broker Anna Estephan
This decision also refers to the cases of Brigitte Le Pailleur and David Tardif. Ordered to pay a $150,000 fine last fall, real estate broker Brigitte Le Pailleur had purchased an elderly client’s triplex without putting it on the market for $885,000 and put it back on the market as three condos three months later. In 10 months, the broker had resold the three units for a total of $1,430,000.
For his part, David Tardif, former star of the show Numbers 1 in Casa, was suspended for buying a vulnerable client’s home himself. Despite his sanction, Mr. Tardif explains in online videos that he is convinced that he really helps his vulnerable clients. “If I had to do it all over again, I would do it again,” he said on his website in 2023 after his suspension. Which leads OACIQ syndic Brigitte Poirier to conclude that the message is not being understood.
OACIQ spokesperson Louis Beauchamp explains that brokers know strategic information about their clients and have skills that consumers do not have.
“The broker has an ethical obligation to market the seller’s property, his client’s, in such a way that his client finds his best benefit. We must never lose sight of that. This obligation directly conflicts with his position as a buyer who necessarily seeks the most advantageous conditions for himself. You can see it on its face that it is a conflict of interest,” maintains Louis Beauchamp, explaining the typical cases of conflicts of interest. He specifies that the OACIQ regularly reminds brokers of their obligations through newsletters and training.
In several cases, such as that of Rimouski broker Michel Michaud at Proprio Direct, who had to explain himself to the disciplinary committee in May, Consumers did not seem to know that they could get a better price by listing their home on Centris and putting a sign in front of the property. Michel Michaud’s clients told the committee that they trusted him.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Michel Michaud
Michel Michaud purchased properties from his clients four times between 2020 and 2022 without posting them on Centris. Michel Michaud’s son, Bryan, and his partner Amélie Gauvreau, two real estate brokers with Équipe Michel Michaud, also purchased a property from a client. The disciplinary committee is expected to render its decision in a few weeks and determine whether Équipe Michel Michaud implemented a “lucrative, personal, family strategy” to acquire real estate in Rimouski. Amélie Gauvreau and Bryan Michaud will appear in court in July. However, during the hearings, Michel Michaud pleaded guilty and acknowledged that he had placed himself in a conflict of interest situation.
The recipe for good deals
Other documents obtained by The Press suggest the same type of practice, this time with grieving liquidators. Real estate broker Dominic Brisebois, of RE/MAX 2000 in Laval, also a shareholder in the company Construction Brivec, bought in October 2022 the house of a 104-year-old lady who had passed away in April 2021 and resold it for $355,000 more eight months later.
One of the heirs and liquidators sold her aunt’s property to her for $875,000. The owner, “who was fond of art history and opera,” still had a mortgage of $835,500 and the heiress was able to cover the costs. However, according to the documents, the Montreal property was not listed for sale on Centris.
The broker finally sold it for $1,230,000 12 days after relisting it.
PHOTO MARIKA VACHON, THE PRESS
Real estate broker Dominic Brisebois
Dominic Brisebois also purchased a client’s triplex located on Saint-Laurent Boulevard in Montreal. This time, the broker put it up for sale on Centris in August 2022 for $788,000. The woman died before a sale was concluded and notarized. The broker finally purchased the property from the heirs and liquidators of the estate for $600,000 in May 2023. The municipal assessment of the property was then $783,900.
Contacted by The Press In order to obtain explanations regarding these transactions, Dominic Brisebois submitted his file to the management of RE/MAX Québec.
“We are committed to ensuring the integrity of our practices by adhering to the OACIQ guidelines and communicating them clearly to our brokers. We also offer training to members of our network to maintain these standards. In this specific case, we are working with the agency’s management to clarify the situation and act accordingly,” RE/MAX Québec management said by email.
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Visit the OACIQ website
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