VANCOUVER -- Jill Chan could see something wasn’t right when she returned home Saturday night. Her family’s backyard was a mess. Twigs and branches were littered on the ground, and all the fruit that was once growing in abundance was gone.
That’s why she looked though her home’s surveillance footage and posted what she saw online.
Chan says the video shows a real estate agent picking pears from a tree on her family property, and then putting them into bags he got from his car.
"After noticing our large pear tree and beautiful berry bushes in our garden, and taking advantage of the fact that we weren’t present on site, he started picking the fruit off the trees and eating it," Chan wrote describing the video.
"Who does this?" she questioned. "Truly appalling."
The Vancouver home is not the agent's listing, Chan says, and he was showing it to potential buyers.
She’s since filed a complaint with the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
"Realtors have a code of conduct, and professionalism is first and foremost, because we are dealing with a lot of money on behalf of our clients," said chair Colette Gerber.
The board doesn’t comment on investigations and wouldn’t confirm a complaint has been received, but acknowledged there are fines up to $30,000 for members who break the rules.
The Real Estate Council of BC won’t confirm it’s conducting an investigation until a hearing has been set.
"As agents, real estate professionals have a responsibility to act honestly and to put their client’s interests ahead of their own. RECBC is committed to protecting real estate consumers and enforcing high standards of professional conduct," wrote spokesperson Warren Mirko.
"Greedily, he went back to his car and got plastic bags," Chan added to her online post. "Stood there and picked every last fruit from our garden!"
The agent in question works for Luxmore Realty.
"My team members and I extend our sincerest apologies for the terrible experience one of our clients had with our real estate agent," wrote managing broker Charles Zhou.
"I think this is really bad for all Realtors. This could damage the reputation of all Realtors," he told CTV News.
The company confirmed the agent is in the process of making a formal apology.
