A British Columbia real estate agent and his personal real estate company have had their licences cancelled after he failed to disclose a criminal charge for assault to the province’s financial regulator.
Harjit Singh Sandhu and his company, Harj Sandhu PREC, entered into a consent order agreement with the B.C. Financial Services Authority, which was finalized last month and published on the regulator’s website last week. The order outlines multiple instances of professional misconduct linked to Sandhu’s failure to report a criminal charge and conviction.
According to the regulator’s findings, the incident that led to the criminal case occurred in October 2017 at a casino in Surrey, British Columbia. Sandhu reportedly assaulted another patron while heavily intoxicated, leaving the victim with severe injuries.
The assault resulted in a charge of aggravated assault being laid in July 2018. However, when Sandhu applied to renew his real estate licence on September 8, 2018, approximately two months after the charge was filed, he answered “no” to a question asking whether he had ever been convicted of or charged with a criminal offence. His licence was subsequently renewed.
The victim later filed a civil lawsuit in September 2019 against Sandhu and other parties involved in the incident. The lawsuit alleged the victim suffered significant injuries, including traumatic brain injury, concussion, post-concussion syndrome, hearing loss, tooth loss, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
The civil case was eventually settled in June 2023, with Sandhu paying the victim $827,500. Following the payment, the case was dismissed by consent order without costs awarded to either party.
Meanwhile, the criminal proceedings were resolved earlier. In January 2020, Sandhu pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault causing bodily harm. He later notified the B.C. Financial Services Authority of both the charge and conviction when applying for licence renewal in September 2020.
In February 2022, Sandhu was sentenced to an 18-month conditional sentence order, allowing the sentence to be served in the community rather than in custody. The regulator noted that he did not provide a copy of the sentence order to the BCFSA until August 2022, more than six months after it was issued, again during the licence renewal process.
The consent order also revealed that Sandhu failed to notify his managing broker at Oakwyn Realty about the incident, criminal charge and conviction until March 21, 2023.
In the agreement with the regulator, Sandhu and his company admitted to professional misconduct for making a false statement on the 2018 licence renewal application and for failing to promptly report the criminal charge to the B.C. Financial Services Authority.
They also acknowledged that not informing the managing broker in a timely manner constituted professional misconduct, and that the assault conviction itself amounted to conduct unbecoming of a licensed real estate professional.
As part of the consent order, both Sandhu and Harj Sandhu PREC agreed to have their licences cancelled immediately. They also agreed to pay a total of $3,000 in enforcement expenses to the B.C. Financial Services Authority within two months.