"the Real Estae Agent" -- Contracting without a license & conspiring with a Contractor
"the Real Estae Agent" -- Contracting without a license & conspiring with a Contractor
The State of California has laws related to Contracting without a License.
In addition to patently lying on disclosure forms about his working relationship with the seller, 2 contractors and 2 pre-sale inspectors, The Real Estate Agent's activities in this transaction reveal a strong case for Contracting without a license.
In addition to that, paragraph 7114 is geared for Contractor violations, but it becomes applicable as it directly addresses Licensed and Unlicensed individuals conspiring to commit violatiosn of the Contractors Code, which includes producing non-workmanlike product as well as fraudulent work. Both of those situations apply, and those would apply to the Contractor, the Seller's Agent and the Seller.
From CA 7114,
"aiding or abetting an unlicensed person to evade the provisions of this chapter or combing or conspiring with an unlicensed person, ....with the intent to evade the provisions of this chapter constitutes a cause for disciplinary action"
the penalty is "payment for any injury resulting from the Acts of the unlicensed person".
Case for Contracting without a License against Real Estate Agent and case for Conspiracy against the Seller, Seller's Agent and Contractors that violates CA 7114.
August 2020
Approximately 8 months before the home was listed for sale, the Seller moved out of state .
He turned the property over to his Seller’s Agent for Management, Repairs and Listing preparation in his full time absence. The seller never returned to the home after moving out.
Per numerous sources, the seller and his family lived like hoarders
The home had been subject to 5 years of human and animal neglect that is well beyond “typical”.
Those facts are documented in various ways, including attestation statements from neighbors.
Those facts are extremely important to understand from the beginning, as they established a more appropriate image of the property at the time it was turned over to the Real Estate Agent for repairs.
NOTE: I respect the fact that these are very personal facts that might be embarrassing. Arguably, the Seller's Agent may have breached his fiduciary duties to his Seller by sharing them with me initially, but they were then validated numerous ways. I attempted to work with the Seller, the Seller's Agent and his Broker to get to resolution to these matters to avoid this level of direct exposure. Those attempts were unsuccessful and thus this very direct prose.
August 2020 through March 2021
From August 2020 through November 2020 the Real Estate Agent recommended and managed at least three contractors ( General Contractor, Painter and Fencing Contractor).
The contractors were paid approximately $55,000 to conceal and/or create over $120,000 in defects, under the direct supervision of the Seller’s Agent, and in the full time absence of the Seller
It is unclear at this time who paid for the work. We believe the Seller’s Agent and or his broker may have paid for the work or offered a bridge loan for the work.
From November 2020 until end of January 2021 the home sat without activity.
That time represents the rainy season in this area.
We believe the home was not marketed when the work was complete in order to avoid revealing property grade issues and to avoid showing the home with the heat on, which could have revealed many issues and could have stimulated mold growth. These type of concerns related to the affects of heat on a home are in fact listed in Coldwell Banker Disclosure documents.
Late January and early February 2021 the Seller’s Agent selected, met with and obtained pre-sale reports from a Home Inspector and a Termite Inspector.
The Inspectors were from two different companies and the reports were done about 1 week apart.
In total the two inspectors were paid approximately $800 to produce approximately 70 pages of reports that omitted in excess of $50,000 in damages that should have been very easy for them to call out had they done "bona fide" inspections with any level of sincere intention.
Simple analysis indicates these weren’t “honest omissions” nor sincere attempts to produce Bona Fide reports.
Some of the most egregious omissions were in fact made by both of them, and they omitted facts known to both the Seller and Seller's agent that they later failed to disclose themselves. That identifies a four person conspiracy on some defects.
March 18 2021
On March 18, 2021, the Seller’s Agent and Seller signed a Keller Williams Disclosure Document as part of the listing process for Keller Williams. During that process they signed a document declaring they did NOT work together in the exact manner that had transpired for 8 months.