B.C. real estate agent fined $20K after buyer learns home on Indigenous site

A sold sign on a residential property listing in an undated file photo. (CTV News)

A Vancouver Island real estate agent will pay a $20,000 penalty for misconduct after failing to investigate if an oceanfront home was on an Indigenous archaeological site.

It was. And only after the deal closed did the buyer discover they were on the hook for thousands of dollars in unexpected permitting costs, plus hourly fees to hire archaeologists and Indigenous representatives, every time they wanted to dig a hole on the property.

The listing was one of seven residential properties in the Qualicum Beach area that agent Candice Svrta showed the buyer, who was looking for a waterfront plot where they could either renovate an existing home or build a new one.

The buyer eventually settled on the property in question, telling Svrta they planned to renovate the manufactured home that was already on site, according to details of the purchase agreement laid out in a disciplinary consent order between the agent and the B.C. Financial Services Authority.

The purchase agreement was drawn up by Svrta in July 2018 and presented to the seller’s agent. The contract did not include any clauses related to the property being in an archaeologically sensitive area, according to the financial services regulator.

The seller provided a property disclosure statement that was crossed out and void of details except for the comment: “We do not live here full time,” according to the consent order.

Three weeks later, the buyer and seller added an addendum to the purchase agreement, knocking $5,000 off the sale price due to septic inspection results, for a final sale price of $645,000, according to the regulator.

Permitting, Indigenous oversight fees

The sale was completed in August 2018, but once the deal was finalized, the buyer inquired with the regional district government and learned the property was, in fact, on an archaeological site of historic importance to the area’s Indigenous people.

“As a result, (the buyer) faced increased costs to alter the property, including $3,500 for a permit each time to excavate, and $125 per hour each for an archaeologist and a First Nations representative to standby for the duration of an excavation,” according to the disciplinary decision.

Two years later, the buyer sued Svrta and Pemberton Holmes Ltd., claiming civil damages in B.C. Supreme Court.

The lawsuit was settled privately in December 2023, according to the regulator, which had by then initiated its own investigation to confirm whether the agent had made any inquiries about the archaeological sensitivity of the property.

No records of an inquiry were found, constituting a failure to take adequate steps to discover and disclose whether the property was situated on a protected archaeological site, according to the regulator.

The financial services authority’s investigation confirmed with the Ministry of Forests, Land and Natural Resource Operations that the property was on an archaeological site that is protected under the Heritage Conservation Act and “must not be damaged or altered without a provincial heritage permit” from the ministry’s archeology branch, according to the order.

A disciplinary hearing on Svrta’s conduct was scheduled for early this year, resulting in a consent agreement signed by the agent and the regulator on Aug. 6.

Under the terms of the agreement, Svrta and her personal real estate corporation (Svrta PREC), were found “jointly and severally liable to pay a discipline penalty to the BCFSA in the amount of $20,000 within three months.” The agent will also pay $1,500 in enforcement expenses to the regulator.

Svrta was also instructed to register and complete, at her own expense, the Real Estate Trading Services Remedial Education Course through the University of B.C.’s Sauder School of Business, according to the agreement.

Failure to comply with the consent order can result in the suspension or cancellation of the agent’s real estate licence without further notice, the regulator said.

More than 62,000 archeological sites in B.C.

The B.C. Real Estate Services Act requires licensed agents to act in the best interests of their client, act honestly with reasonable care and skill, and make all reasonable efforts to discover relevant facts about a property their client is considering acquiring.

The regulator’s investigation found that Svrta, who also uses the name Candi Drath, “committed professional misconduct within the meaning” of those sections of the law.

Svrta did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the disciplinary decision. Under the terms of the consent order, the agent is barred from making any public statements the regulator deems inconsistent with the decision.

According to the Ministry of Forests, Land and Natural Resource Operations, there are more than 62,000 known archeological sites in B.C., 90 per cent of which are of First Nations origin.

The most common examples of such sites include the remains of ancient villages or cemeteries, tool-manufacturing sites, fishing weirs, rock art and shell middens.