Court injunction orders Derek Johnson to stop dealing in real estate
A Calgary man who has been posing as a real estate agent has been slapped with a court injunction.
A Court of Queen's Bench judge has ordered Derek Johnson and his aliases to cease and desist listing and selling real estate.
Johnson was also ordered to take down the websites freelistcalgary.com and joerhealestate.com as well as to stop posting properties for sale on Kijiji.
Charles Stevenson, the director of professional standards for the Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA) says they will do everything they can do to stop Johnson from preying on vulnerable people.
“As long as he is out there holding himself out in this way, consumers are harmed,” he said.
Johnson has been fined several times for trading real estate without authorization, to the total of $65,000.
According to Stevenson, Johnson approaches people who are having financial difficulties with their home and offers to help.
"Finding people where foreclosure action has commenced is fairly simple, it's readily available in the marketplace," Stevenson said.
On the other end, Johnson tempts "investors" with low prices on these particular homes.
"In the meantime, the money that he collects for deposits, for rents so on and so forth, never gets repaid."
One victim who had Johnson offer to purchase their home that was in foreclosure was allowed to stay in a rent-to-own scheme. It took six months to get the land title back in his name.
Johnson currently has his own property for rent, although his name was not listed on the "for sale" sign on his front lawn. RECA has registered a claim on Johnson's property
Cas Lintott, a Calgary lawyer who has represented several of Johnson's victims, says RECA could do even more against Johnson to collect the fines that it's owed.
Lintott said Johnson's actions are considered a civil matter and not a criminal one.
“The likelihood that the police will take a civil order like that and then enforce it, it’s just not a priority for them at the end of the day.”
Johnson has ignored previous orders from the Real Estate Council of Alberta and one of his websites is still operating.
