33-06-0957
Licence number
A9844
Broker's name
Pruneau, Jacques
Decision
Notice of suspension of the certificate
of Mr. Jacques Pruneau
File: 33-06-0957
NOTICE is hereby given that Mr. Jacques Pruneau, affiliated real estate agent (A9844), employed by or authorized to act on behalf of Avantage immobilier, chartered real estate broker (C9793), whose establishment is located at 1179 Saint-Louis St. in Gatineau, has been found guilty by the Discipline Committee of the Association des courtiers et agents immobiliers du Québec of the offences summarized below:
1st count: During the months of February and March 2004, committing acts that are derogatory to the honour and dignity of the profession, participating in acts or a practice in real estate matters which may be illegal or which may cause prejudice to the public or to the profession, failing to provide fair treatment to the parties to a transaction, abusing another member’s good faith, using unfair practices against him and failing to convey a fact surrounding a transaction, notably in the course of the following events, the purpose of which was the profitable resale of an immovable:
a) soliciting visits from a real estate agent, without disclosing to him that the Defendant would not be accepting a promise to purchase from these visitors, even if they showed an interest in acquiring this immovable following such visit;
b) soliciting such visits from a real estate agent without disclosing to him that any transaction proposal from these visitors would not be intended for the seller contemporary to these visits, but rather to a third party;
c) hiding from the potential buyers the fact that the Defendant would collaborate in the acquisition of this immovable by a third party for the purpose of resale to one and/or the other of them;
d) allowing these potential buyers to visit this immovable while allowing them to be assisted by a third party, an individual whom the Defendant knew to be looking for an offer to purchase intended for a seller who was not the seller cotemporary to these visits;
such events leading, on or around February 27, 2004, to the signing by a promising buyer of a promise to purchase in the amount of $136,000 and, on or around March 11, 2004, the signing by a promising buyer of a promise to purchase in the amount of $158,000, the whole contrary to sections 1, 13, 24, 26, 35 and 43 of the Rules of Professional Ethics of the ACAIQ.
2nd count: During the month of February 2004, committing acts that are derogatory to the honour and dignity of the profession, participating in acts or a practice in real estate matters which may be illegal or which may cause prejudice to the public or to the profession, failing to provide fair treatment to the parties to a transaction, abusing another member’s good faith, using unfair practices against him and failing to convey a fact surrounding a transaction, notably in the course of the following events, the purpose of which was the profitable resale of an immovable:
a) on or around February 21, 2004, soliciting a visit from a real estate agent, without disclosing to him that the Defendant would not be accepting a promise to purchase from potential buyers, even if they showed an interest in acquiring this immovable;
b) soliciting such visit from a real estate agent without disclosing to him that any transaction proposal from these visitors would not be intended for the seller contemporary to these visits, but rather to a third party;
c) on or around February 21, 2004, allowing these visitors to visit this immovable without disclosing the identity of the seller contemporary to their visit or his asking price;
d) hiding from these visitors the fact that the Defendant would collaborate in the acquisition of this immovable by a third party for the purpose of resale to one and/or the other of them;
e) allowing these potential buyers to visit this immovable while allowing them to be assisted by a third party, an individual whom the Defendant knew to be looking for an offer to purchase intended for a seller who was not the seller cotemporary to these visits;
such events leading, on or around February 21, 2004, to the signing by a promising buyer of a promise to purchase in the amount of $102,000 and, on or around February 27, 2004, the signing by a promising buyer of a promise to purchase in the amount of $136,000, the whole contrary to sections 1, 13, 24, 26, 35 and 43 of the Rules of Professional Ethics of the ACAIQ.
3rd count: During the month of May 2004, committing acts that are derogatory to the honour and dignity of the profession, participating in acts or a practice in real estate matters which may be illegal or which may cause prejudice to the public or to the profession, failing to provide fair treatment to the parties to a transaction, abusing another member’s good faith, using unfair practices against him and failing to convey a fact surrounding a transaction, notably in the course of the following events, the purpose of which was the profitable resale of an immovable:
a) on or around May 7, 2004, soliciting a visit from a real estate agent, without disclosing to him that the Defendant would not be accepting a promise to purchase from the potential buyer, even if she showed an interest in acquiring this immovable;
b) soliciting such visit from a real estate agent without disclosing to him that any transaction proposal from this visitor would not be intended for the seller contemporary to these visits, but rather to a third party;
c) hiding from the potential buyer the fact that Defendant would collaborate in the acquisition of this immovable by a third party for the purpose of resale to her;
d) allowing this potential buyer to visit this immovable while allowing them to be assisted by a third party, an individual whom the Defendant knew to be looking for an offer to purchase intended for a seller who was not the seller cotemporary to this visit;
such events leading, on or around May 7, 2004, to the signing by a promising buyer of a promise to purchase in the amount of $92,000 and, on or around May 10, 2004, the signing by a promising buyer of a promise to purchase in the amount of $119,000, the whole contrary to sections 1, 13, 24, 26, 35 and 43 of the Rules of Professional Ethics of the ACAIQ.
4th count: During the month of March 2005, committing acts that are derogatory to the honour and dignity of the profession, participating in acts or a practice in real estate matters which may be illegal or which may cause prejudice to the public or to the profession, failing to provide fair treatment to the parties to a transaction, abusing another member’s good faith, using unfair practices against him and failing to convey a fact surrounding a transaction, notably in the course of the following events, the purpose of which was the profitable resale of an immovable:
a) during the month of March 2005, soliciting a visit from a real estate agent, without disclosing to him that the Defendant would not be accepting a promise to purchase from potential buyers, even if they showed an interest in acquiring this immovable;
b) soliciting such visit from a real estate agent without disclosing to him that any transaction proposal from these visitors would not be intended for the seller contemporary to these visits, but rather to a third party;
c) hiding from these visitors the fact that the Defendant would collaborate in the acquisition of this immovable by a third party for the purpose of resale to one and/or the other of them;
d) allowing these potential buyers to visit this immovable while allowing them to be assisted by a third parties, individuals whom the Defendant knew to be looking for an offer to purchase intended for a seller who was not the seller cotemporary to this visit;
such events leading, on or around March 24, 2005, to the signing by a promising buyer of a promise to purchase in the amount of $115,000 and, on an undetermined date, the signing by promising buyers of a promise to purchase in the amount of $148,000, the whole contrary to sections 1, 13, 24, 26, 35 and 43 of the Rules of Professional Ethics of the ACAIQ.
5th count: On or around February 5, 2006, failing to demonstrate integrity, committing an act that is derogatory to the honour and dignity of the profession and participating in an act or practice in real estate matters which may be illegal or which may cause prejudice to the public or to the profession, namely by completing and having promising buyers sign a promise to purchase concerning an immovable, and, at the same time, the complementary agreement drafted on an annex, whereas this promise to purchase did not cross-reference said annex and the absence of such cross-reference allowed the obtaining of mortgage financing on the basis of information that did not take the content of this annex into consideration, the whole contrary to sections 1, 13 and 35 of the Rules of Professional Ethics of the ACAIQ.
6th count: On or around February 16, 2006, failing to demonstrate integrity, committing an act that is derogatory to the honour and dignity of the profession and participating in an act or practice in real estate matters which may be illegal or which may cause prejudice to the public or to the profession, namely by completing and having a promising buyer sign a promise to purchase, an Annex A concerning an immovable, and, at the same time, the complementary agreement drafted on an Annex AG, whereas this promise to purchase did not cross-reference this Annex AG and the absence of such cross-reference allowed the obtaining of mortgage financing on the basis of information that did not take the content of this Annex AG into consideration, the whole contrary to sections 1, 13 and 35 of the Rules of Professional Ethics of the ACAIQ.
7th count: On or around February 18, 2006, failing to ensure the presentation to the promising buyer, as soon as possible after receiving it, of a counter-proposal to a promise to purchase concerning an immovable, the whole contrary to section 78 of the By-Law of the ACAIQ.
8th count: On or around February 21, 2006, failing to demonstrate integrity, committing an act that is derogatory to the honour and dignity of the profession and participating in an act or practice in real estate matters which may be illegal or which may cause prejudice to the public or to the profession, namely by completing and having a promising buyer sign a promise to purchase and an Annex A concerning an immovable, and, at the same time, the complementary agreement drafted on an Annex AG whereas this promise to purchase did not cross-reference this Annex AG and the absence of such cross-reference allowed the obtaining of mortgage financing on the basis of information that did not take the content of this Annex AG into consideration, the whole contrary to sections 1, 13 and 35 of the Rules of Professional Ethics of the ACAIQ.
9th count: On or around February 26, 2006, failing to include in a weekly publication the mandatory statements that the holder of an affiliated real estate agent certificate must include visibly in any advertising, client solicitation and representation regarding the pursuit of the activity of real estate broker referred to in section 1 of the Act, the whole contrary to section 104 (3) of the By-Law of the ACAIQ.
10th count: On or around March 24, 2006, failing to collaborate and making false statements during an investigation conducted by an assistant syndic, notably when the Defendant falsely stated that up to that date he had only been involved in three or four transactions directly or indirectly involving promising buyers, the whole contrary to sections 54 and 55 of the Rules of Professional Ethics of the ACAIQ.
On November 21, 2006, the Discipline Committee ordered a suspension of Mr. Jacques Pruneau’s certificate for a period of five (5) years on counts Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the complaint, a suspension for a period of three (3) years on counts Nos. 5, 6 and 8, a suspension for a period of thirty (30) days on count No. 7 and a suspension for a period of thirty (30) days on count No. 10, to be served consecutively.
The decision of the Discipline Committee is enforceable from the date of the appeals deadline, i.e. December 28, 2006. The suspension of Mr. Jacques Pruneau’s affiliated real estate agent certificate is therefore effective as of January 3, 2007 for a period of eight (8) years and sixty (60) days.
This notice is given in accordance with section 137 of the Real Estate Brokerage Act (R.S.Q., c. C-73.1).
Brossard, January 8, 2007
Chantal Peltier
Discipline Committee Secretary
