Chalet
rental required registration, court rules
Real Estate Council of Ontario successful in its appeal
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Sept. 16, 2010 (Barrie) - A Collingwood
business and its owner have been found guilty
of trading in real estate while unregistered after an appeals court
overturned an
acquittal from two years ago.
Harvey Goldmintz and Blue Mountain Chalets will be sentenced on Oct.
5, 2010 in
Barrie Provincial Court for contravening the Real Estate and Business
Brokers Act, 2002
(REBBA 2002) by trading without being registered. In Ontario, in order
to trade in real
estate, brokers and salespersons must be registered under REBBA 2002.
The charges against Mr. Goldmintz resulted from a RECO investigation
that determined
he had rented a Blue Mountain condo in early 2003 on behalf of the
unit’s owner on
two separate occasions. Neither Blue Mountain Chalets nor Mr.
Goldmintz was
registered under REBBA 2002 at the time of the trade.
In his decision, Justice Glenn Krelove stated the Justice of the Peace
in the 2008 trial
made “significant errors of law” when he found Collingwood businessman
Harvey
Goldmintz and Blue Mountain Chalets not guilty.
Justice Krelove noted that Mr. Goldmintz operates a numbered company
that carries
on business as Blue Mountain Chalets (BMC).
“Among other things, BMC offers a service whereby it will rent a
chalet in the
Collingwood area on behalf of the owner of the chalet to a third party
who wishes to
use the chalet on a short term basis. BMC takes a fee from funds paid
by the third party
renter,” the judgement states.
During the original trial, the Justice of the Peace stated he was
satisfied that there was a
trade in real estate by the defendant, and that the defendant acted as
a broker on the
trade. Despite these findings, he still found the accused not guilty.
However, in his reasons for overturning the acquittal, Justice Krelove
stated “The
learned Justice of the Peace erred in law by admitting and relying
upon irrelevant and
otherwise inadmissible evidence.” |
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