Real estate agent fined $20,000 for shocking act inside client's home
The agent issued an apology, saying he's 'never done this kind of thing before' and will never do it again.
They say there’s no use crying over spilt milk, but one real estate agent might disagree after copping a $20,000 fine for taking a sneaky swig of the creamy liquid from a client’s carton.
A home surveillance camera captured Mike Rose opening a fridge in a home he was showing to buyers last year, before picking up a bottle of milk, taking a gulp directly from the container and putting it back inside.
At the time, homeowner Lyska Fullerton told British Columbia media outlets she was “really shocked” by what she had seen on her Ring security camera. “Shocked doesn’t even cover it. It was just disbelief,” she added, claiming Mr Rose had also sat on and broken the arm of her couch during a previous visit.
Mr Rose was fined $20,000 Canadian dollars (A$22,000) on July 18 by the British Columbia Financial Services Authority, The Washington Post reported. The government agency labelled his behaviour as “unbecoming” under the province’s Real Estate Services Act. The realtor was also ordered to pay an additional $2,500 in enforcement expenses.
“This was unprofessional in so many ways,” Ms Fullerton told The Post. “Every part of it was just such an invasion of privacy and such an invasion of our home.
“In what world do you think that this is ever okay to do?” she continued. “I wouldn’t even do that in my own family’s home.”
Realtor claims he was under 'considerable stress'
According to the publication, Mr Rose told the British Columbia Financial Services Authority he was “unusually dehydrated” at the time due to new medication and was under “considerable stress”.
In a statement to local publication CFJC Today, Mr Rose offered “a most sincere apology” for his actions. “I was showing a house to my clients, and I made the very unfortunate, and very uncharacteristic, decision to drink milk from a container from the homeowners’ fridge,” he said. “I have never done this kind of thing before, nor will I ever behave in this way again.
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“I broke the trust of the homeowners whose house I was showing. Although I have apologised directly to the homeowners, I know that actions like this are not quickly forgiven nor easily forgotten.”
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