A veteran District of North Vancouver councillor has been disciplined for a second time by the Real Estate Council of British Columbia.

Coun. Alan John Nixon, managing broker of DominionGrand Realty Corp., was ordered to pay a $1,000 penalty, according to a decision published on September 10. Nixon entered into a consent agreement with the council that he committed professional misconduct by failing to file an accountant’s report by a prescribed date. In addition, Nixon and his firm were held “jointly and severally liable” to cover enforcement expenses of $1,000.

In 2008, the real-estate council fined Nixon and three other agents $1,500 and suspended the North Vancouver politician for 28 days after discovering that agents who reported to him were managing condos without proper licensing. The controversy didn’t prevent him from being reelected to the District of North Vancouver council later that year.

In September, the real-estate council also released disciplinary decisions involving three other Lower Mainland agents. Richmond-based Nirlaip (Paul) Singh Bal was suspended for 21 days, effective October 17 to November 6, and ordered to pay enforcement expenses of $1,000. This came after he entered into a consent order that he committed professional misconduct by not letting his managing broker know that he “acted as a limited dual agent” in a 2009 sale. In addition, the order states that Bal “failed to apply reasonable care and skill when he acted on behalf of the assignor of the contract and the assignee, by not providing written notice to the owner of the property that the contract had been assigned”.

Surrey agent Roslyn Anita Millard was also suspended for 21 days, effective October 17 to November 6, and ordered to pay enforcement expenses of $1,000 and complete a remedial-education course. This occurred after “she failed to act with reasonable care and skill when she drafted a clause in the Contract of Purchase and Sale which set out that the deposit was to be paid directly to the seller, but incorporated a term that 25% of each deposit was to be paid to the brokerage as commission”. This occurred without her making it clear where the commission would be held, according to the consent order.

Millard also contravened the Real Estate Services Act by not arranging for a separate written agreement stipulating that her brokerage firm wouldn’t hold the deposit.

Another Surrey agent, Marjorie Ann Ashdown, received a seven-day suspension beginning on September 26. Like Millard, she will also have to take a remedial-education course, plus pay $1,250 in enforcement expenses. Her consent order states that she “failed to use reasonable efforts to discover relevant facts and failed to act with reasonable care and skill” regarding whether or not a seller had obtained permits to build a wall under a municipal bylaw.