The agent received a much stiffer sentence after appealing his lighter one.
A West Vancouver real estate agent who lost his license and was banned from the industry for five years following a misconduct complaint has failed to overturn his discipline in the British Columbia Supreme Court.
In January 2015, Shaheen Behroyan led the sale of a West Vancouver home that included receiving a $75,000 bonus on top of his regular commission, effectively doubling his total proceeds from the sale. But after the sale, the original owner filed a formal complaint with the BC Real Estate Board
The complaint includes allegations of “misrepresentation and non-disclosure, fraudulent dealings and dishonesty, conflicts of interest and failure to act with reasonable care and skill in the best interests of the client,” British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Nigel Kent noted in his ruling issued on July 14.
When the council’s disciplinary committee issued its decision in October 2017, its members found five cases of misconduct and dismissed two, although Kent’s decision did not specify which. The following May, Behroyan’s license was suspended for one year and he was ordered to pay a $7,500 fine. plus $59,000 in law enforcement costs and take an ethics course.
He appealed both the decision and his punishment to the Financial Services Tribunal of British Columbia, while the real estate chief appealed the punishment, arguing it was too lenient, the decision said.
The appeal resulted in two of the findings of professional misconduct being overturned because they were “erroneous,” the decision noted. The FST member sent Behroyan’s file back to the Real Estate Board’s disciplinary committee, which by then had new members, to review what the appropriate punishment should be.
Behroyan said in February 2020 that a reprimand would be sufficient or, if a suspension was required, it should not be for more than one month, court documents show. But the council said his license should be canceled along with a five-year ban plus a $10,000 fine.
The second disciplinary committee agreed with the board and Behroyan lost his license.
Behroyan appealed again to the Financial Services Tribunal, which upheld the second decision in August 2021.
Most recently, Behroian petitioned the British Columbia Supreme Court for judicial review, arguing that the second disciplinary panel lacked jurisdiction to increase his original punishment and that the unusual process was “arbitrary and unreasonable,” the ruling noted.
Having two of the misconduct complaints dismissed by the second panel while receiving a stiffer penalty is an “awkward discrepancy,” Behroyan argued, and is “intolerable and patently unreasonable.”
Concluding his written decision, Kent acknowledged that “the optics of this case are unfortunate,” but found that there was no legal basis for Behroyan’s petition for judicial review.
“I do not agree with Mr. Behroyan’s characterization of the penalty increases as mere ‘whims’ of various decision makers. There was nothing whimsical about the second decision to review the punishment of the Disciplinary Committee, let alone the final approval of the same by the FST. The process used here was exactly what Mr. Behroian requested from the FST … and from the second disciplinary panel; namely, a new sentencing review where the first sentencing decision was irrelevant,” he wrote. “Mr. Behroyan cannot now complain that the very process he wants should be deemed arbitrary and unreasonable simply because he is unhappy with the outcome.
Kent dismissed Behroian’s petition and ordered him to pay the real estate superintendent’s legal costs.
brichter@nsnews.com twitter.com/brentrichter
Add Comment