Former BC realtor who misrepresented sale ordered to pay back $300K deposit

A former BC realtor has been ordered to give back a $300,000 deposit after the BC Court of Appeal found he hadn’t told the buyer of a $6.2-million property he owned that renovations had been done without a permit.

According to a May 20 BC Appeal Court decision, former realtor Ehsan Abadian had hung on to a $300,000 deposit after the buyer found out that work had been done on the property without a permit and pulled out of the sale.

The decision said Carolyn Eileen Sewell agreed to buy the $6.2-million West Vancouver property from Abadian in 2022 and handed over a $300,000 deposit, with $200,000 to follow.

“Mr. Abadian knew that the property had an addition to it built without a building permit, but he did not disclose it in a property disclosure statement that he provided to Ms. Sewell,” BC Appeal Court Justice Susan Griffin said in the decision.

When Sewell found out that the Bellevue Avenue property’s back garden room was enclosed without a permit, she pulled out of the sale.

However, Abadian refused to give back the deposit.

Sewell sued, and Abadian counter claimed for the extra $200,000.

The decision said that prior to signing the purchase and sales contract, Abadian drew a diagonal line through the disclosure statement.

He didn’t fill in any boxes but wrote “Tenanted Property, Owner has never occupied” on the form.

Sewell argued Abadian had made a negligent or fraudulent misrepresentation in the disclosure statement.

However, the judge didn’t agree and ruled there had been no misrepresentation.

In Sewell’s appeal, the panel of three judges at the BC Appeal Court saw it differently.

The judges clocked that as a former realtor, he knew what he was doing.

“Mr. Abadian was experienced in real estate sales, including as a prior licensed realtor, and knew the importance of filling out a disclosure statement accurately,” Justice Griffin said. “(He) knew that the disclosure statement he received from the prior seller of the property disclosed the unpermitted addition in two places on the form.”

The justice pointed out that the accuracy of the information on the disclosure statement was the seller’s responsibility, and Abadian knew the addition had been done without a permit.

“This was a misrepresentation, whether negligent or fraudulent does not matter in this case,” the Justice said.

Ultimately, the court ordered Abadian to give back the $300,000 deposit.

According to Rossetti Realty, the property sold in February 2024 for $4.5 million, considerably less than Sewell was willing to originally pay.