Kenneth Edward Heppner, Royal LePage Wolstencroft, Langley

Respondent:     KENNETH EDWARD HEPPNER                                  

File:   154-05

Hearing Date:   January 24 and 25, 2008

Decision of Council:   February 27, 2008

Complaint:   Contravention of sections 35(1)(a) [professional misconduct], 35(1)(c) [wrongful taking or deceptive dealing] and 35(1)(d) [incompetence] of the Real Estate Services Act  

Issue:   Kenneth Edward Heppner, representative, West Coast Realty Ltd. dba Sutton Group-West Coast Realty, Langley, while licensed with Shewan Real Estate Ltd. dba Royal LePage -Wolstencroft, Langley, committed acts of deceptive dealing and, as a result, committed professional misconduct under section 35(1)(c) of the Real Estate Services Act in that he: (a) in connection with the sale of a property situated on 36 Avenue, Surrey, ( “Property ”) and while acting as a limited dual agent: (i) misled the sellers ’ solicitor by causing him to believe that the sellers knew in a timely way of the buyer ’s assignment of the Contract when Mr. Heppner knew that this was untrue; and (ii) assisted the buyer and the assignee with the assignment of the Contract without disclosing this fact to the sellers and obtaining their consent that he do so; (b) while acting on behalf of a company, Mr. Heppner sent an unsigned document purporting to be a contract assigning the right to purchase a property from an assignor to an assignee for an assignment fee plus reimbursement of a deposit, when the assignor had no legal interest in the property and Mr. Heppner knew or ought to have known this fact; (c) in connection with the sale of a property situated on 192^nd Street, Surrey and while acting as a limited dual agent, he misled his managing broker by stating that he had had nothing to do with the assignment of the Contract when Mr. Heppner had, in fact, assisted the buyer and the assignee with the assignment of the Contract; and (d) in connection with the sale of a property situated on 194^th Street, Surrey, and while acting as a limited dual agent, he misled his managing broker by stating that he had had nothing to do with the assignment of the Contract when Mr. Heppner had, in fact, assisted the buyer and the assignee with the assignment of the Contract.     

Mr. Heppner demonstrated incompetence and, as a result, committed professional misconduct within the meaning of section 35(1)(d) of the Act in that he: (a) in connection with the sale of a property situated on 36 Avenue, Surrey, and while acting as a limited dual agent: (i) failed to advise the sellers in a timely way that the buyer had assigned the Contract; and (ii) failed to advise the sellers to obtain independent legal advice about the buyer ’s assignment of the Contract; (b) in connection with the sale of a property situated on 192^nd Street, Surrey, and while acting as a limited dual agent: (i) prepared an addendum to the Contract removing the subject clauses, which was signed by a person at a time when Mr. Heppner knew that the person was not an authorized signatory of the buyer; (ii) prepared a second addendum to the Contract removing the subject clauses, which was signed by an authorized signatory of the buyer; (iii) failed to advise the seller in a timely way that the buyer had assigned the Contract; (iv) failed to advise the seller to obtain independent legal advice about the buyer ’s assignment of the Contract; and (v) assisted the buyer and the assignee with the assignment of the Contract without disclosing this fact to the sellers and obtaining their consent that he do so; (c) in connection with the sale of a property situated on 194^th Street, Surrey and while acting as a limited dual agent: (i) failed to advise the sellers in a timely way that the buyer had assigned the Contract; (ii) failed to advise the sellers to obtain independent legal advice about the buyer ’s assignment of the Contract; and (iii) assisted the buyer and the assignee with the assignment of the Contract without disclosing this fact to the sellers and obtaining their consent that he do so; (d) in connection with the proposed sale of three properties situated on 148^th Street, Surrey: (i) provided the sellers ’ representative with a cheque for the deposit required under the Contract, which Mr. Heppner stated was a certified cheque, when he knew or ought to have known it was not certified; (ii) told the buyer, after the buyer had attempted to certify the cheque and had been told by the bank that there were insufficient funds for this purpose, to deposit the cheque in any event on the basis that it would clear, when he knew or ought to have known that this was untrue; (iii) failed to inform his managing broker that the buyer ’s deposit cheque had not cleared the bank; and (e) in connection with the sale of a property situated on 184^th Street, Surrey and while acting as a limited dual agent: (i) failed to advise the sellers to obtain independent legal advice about the buyer ’s assignment of the Contract; (ii) failed to deliver the Contract to his brokerage in a timely way.  

Mr. Heppner demonstrated incompetence and, as a result, committed professional misconduct within the meaning of sections 35(1)(a) and 35(1)(d) of the Act and contravened the Act or the Council Rules in that he: (a) in connection with the sale of a property situated on 36 Avenue, Surrey and while acting as a limited dual agent, failed to provide his managing broker with either the originals or copies of the records in his possession, which Mr. Heppner had prepared or which had been prepared on his behalf, relating to the assignment of the Contract; (b) in connection with the sale of a property situated on 192^nd Street, Surrey and while acting as a limited dual agent: (i) failed to submit the second addendum to his managing broker; and (ii) failed to provide his managing broker with either the originals or copies of the records in his possession, which he had prepared or which had been prepared on his behalf, relating to the assignment of the Contract; (c) in connection with the sale of a property situated at 194^th Street, Surrey and while acting as a limited dual agent, failed to provide his managing broker with the originals or copies of the records in his possession, which he had prepared or which had been prepared on his behalf, relating to the assignment of the Contract; and (d) in connection with the proposed sale of three properties situated on 148^th Street, Surrey, failed to inform his managing broker of his activities in connection with the proposed sale of the Property.  

Penalty:   Kenneth Edward Heppner was suspended for one hundred and eighty (180) days from April 16, 2008 to October 12, 2008 (inclusive) for professional misconduct as described above, after which he will be eligible to be relicensed as a representative provided that he has satisfied the following terms:   as a condition of relicensing, Mr. Heppner must, prior to relicensing, complete the Real Estate Trading Services Licensing Course and successfully pass the examination, enroll in and attend the CPE course  “Legal Update ”, enroll in and attend the Residential Trading Services Applied Practice Course, and pay enforcement expenses to the Council in the amount of $7,453.00.  

P: Mar 31, 2008 R: Mar 31, 2013