Dealing with Realtors

[NoJustice]

California. While we were traveling a land survey was completed on our rural property, at our request. As directed, the surveyor sent a draft of the survey to our Realtor we had contracted with to sell the property. There were some major encroachments discovered with the survey.

The owner of the Realtor’s Office, not our Realtor, gave a copy of the draft of survey to his buddy, a fellow that is friend of the owner of the adjacent property. The Realtor’s buddy has no connection with the Real Estate Office. Of course the draft of survey ended up in the adjacent property owner’s hand over a month before we even learned the property line was not as we had been shown by survey markers when we purchase the property.

This was the beginning of a very expensive law suit over easements, encroachments, etc.

My questions:
Are Realtor’s legally responsible to protect their clients in matters of this sort ?
Was this a breach of confidentiality that could be prosecuted?

Thanks for your help!!

 

[HomeGuru]

Your Realtor company did wrong on numerous counts. Check out the National Association of Realtors Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics www. nar.realtor.com

Also check out your State real estate licensing laws.

 

[Jack Mevorach, Esq.]

If nothing else, the realtor breached a fiduciary duty owed to you. A statutory duty may also have been breached.

Prosecutions can be either criminal or civil. Criminal prosecution is probably unlikely. If you have been harmed by the realtor's action, you may have grounds for civil prosecution. The existence of the pending lawsuit is not the type of harm that is required.

 

[NoJustice]

Law Suit

Thanks to HomeGuru and Jack for responding..

We've already spent over $13K in attorney's fees attempting to get this mess straightened out and don't seem to be getting any closer than we were a year ago.

Only recently did we learn the identity of the person that obtained the information from the Realtor's Office. We also learned this person, who is rather wealthy and influential in this area, is financing the adjacent neighbor's legal costs.

In addition, this person later contacted the surveyor we had hired and accused him of being incompetent. The surveyor, whom we paid, gave this person a copy of the final survey without our permission. This survey has not been recorded and therefore is not a matter of public record.

Is there a Board of Surveyors??

Thanks again for your help..

 

[HomeGuru]

There is a State license that the surveyor has so file a complaint with the proper State regulatory agency. Do the same against your Realtor.