Man convicted of assault causing bodily harm loses B.C. real estate licence for failing to report charges

A real estate sign is pictured in Vancouver, B.C., Tuesday, June, 12, 2018. (Jonathan Hayward / The Canadian Press)

A B.C. man and his personal real estate company have agreed to have their licences cancelled after he failed to report to a provincial regulator that he had been charged with assault.

Harjit Singh Sandhu and Harj Sandhu PREC entered a consent order agreement with the B.C. Financial Services Authority last month, and the document was published on the regulator’s website last week.

According to the order, Sandhu assaulted a fellow patron at a Surrey casino “while heavily intoxicated” in October 2017, leaving the other man with “debilitating injuries.”

The incident led to a criminal charge of aggravated assault, which was laid in July 2018, the document indicates.

“In his Sept. 8, 2018, application for licence renewal, approximately two months after he was charged and arrested, H. Sandhu answered ‘no’ to the question asking if he had ever been convicted or was currently charged with a criminal offence,” the consent order reads.

“His licence was renewed.”

The victim of the assault launched a civil suit against Sandhu “and others” in September 2019, alleging that he had suffered “grievous injuries including traumatic brain injury, concussion, post-concussion syndrome, loss of hearing, loss of teeth, post-traumatic stress disorder (and) depression, among others,” according to the document.

“The civil action concluded with H. Sandhu paying (the man) $827,500 in or around June 2023, and a consent order dated June 21, 2023, dismissed the claim without costs to any party,” the consent order reads.

Meanwhile, the criminal case was resolved with Sandhu pleading guilty to the lesser offence of assault causing bodily harm in January 2020.

Sandhu notified the BCFSA of the charge and conviction when applying to renew his licence in September 2020.

The consent order indicates he was sentenced in February 2022 to an 18-month conditional sentence order, which is a jail sentence that is served in the community rather than behind bars.

Sandhu provided a copy of the conditional sentence order to the BCFSA in August 2022, more than six months after he received it, again while applying for licence renewal.

“H. Sandhu did not notify his managing broker at Oakwyn of the incident and subsequent charge and conviction until March 21, 2023,” the consent order reads.

In the agreement, Sandhu and his PREC admit that they committed professional misconduct by making a false statement on the 2018 licence renewal application and by failing to promptly notify the regulator of the charges against Sandhu.

They also admit that failing to promptly notify the managing broker of the charge constituted professional misconduct, and that the conviction itself constituted conduct unbecoming of a licensee.

Under the consent order, both Sandhu and his PREC had their licences cancelled “immediately.” They also agreed to pay a total of $3,000 in “enforcement expenses” to the BCFSA within two months.