The Saskatchewan Real Estate Commission is responding to criticism from the Saskatchewan Realtors Association. In a multi-page statement posted to its website Friday afternoon, the commission said it does not answer to the Saskatchewan Realtors Association (SRA). “We recognize the SRA as one of our stakeholder groups. What the SRA states to be a “wholly inadequate response” are the most punitive sanctions on record in Saskatchewan. The Commission operates within legal limits and enforces The Real Estate Act, Regulations and Bylaws, not MLS® or SRA rules,” the commission said. “The Commission is required to conduct fair, unbiased investigations and give registrants against whom complaints have been filed due process. We cannot rush or skip these strict legal steps to deliver prompt punishment. We recognize these same standards may not apply to private membership groups such as SRA.” The commission outlined its disciplinary process and said no clients involved with Epic Alliance filed complaints or launched lawsuits before its two-year investigation began. The commission also said the fines and suspensions handed to Paul Chavady and Jerry Hallgrimson are the most severe sanctions on record in Saskatchewan. Both men who sold more than 100 homes on behalf of Epic Alliance, a company at the centre of the controversy, are being suspended. The Saskatoon-based real estate investment firm raised more than $200 million before it collapsed. In a 34-page decision, the Saskatchewan Real Estate Commission suspended Chavady and Hallgrimson from trading real estate for six months and ordered each to pay a $100,000 fine. Mike Russell, a lawyer who represented dozens of investors who lost millions, is taking issue with the decision. “It says that there’s no evidence he even made any money off of it. That’s a joke,” Russell said. Epic Alliance collapsed in 2022. At that time, the company had raised more than $211 million from investors while controlling more than 500 properties in Saskatoon and North Battleford. The co-founders were never criminally charged, but they were fined $300,000 and banned from trading investment products for 20 years by the province’s consumer affairs watchdog. Chavady and Hallgrimson were recruited by Epic Alliance as part of its hassle-free landlord program, where investors would buy a home, take out a mortgage and have Epic Alliance manage the property. But the commission found both Chavady and Hallgrimson failed to include required information on offers 106 times and failed to properly represent the interests of buyers 36 times, among other breaches. CTV News was unable to reach Hallgrimson however, Chavady agreed to speak with CTV News Saskatoon but did not want to appear on camera. He said he had no idea what Epic Alliance was doing until the company came under investigation. He described the findings as “paperwork issues” that he acknowledges and said were relatively common practice at the time. “We were unfortunately of the opinion, and wrong to be of the opinion, that if the two parties agreed and still signed off on something, that meant they were in agreement,” he said. He also said everything from the purchase price to possession dates and conditions had already been negotiated, and that his role was to prepare the documents. The commission said Chavady and Hallgrimson were terminated by their brokerage Thursday and are no longer registered to trade in real estate in Saskatchewan.
