A Vancouver-based realtor has been slapped with a $20,000 fine for false advertising of a six-lot development on a rural property on Shuswap Lake just north of Sicamous.
Lester Twarog of RE/MAX Crest Realty signed a consent order with the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) on March 13 regarding an incident in 2021. At that time he was contracted to list and sell the rural lots and marketed them as “waterfront and road access” in the MLS listing.
“Current access by boat that takes 20 mins from Sicamous or 1 hour via forestry road that is on Google Maps,” the listing stated. “Approximately 20KMs North of Sicamous. Not accessible by road in the wintertime – road is not plowed.”
In the discipline hearing, the Superintendent of Real Estate noted that Twarog “knew or ought to have known the Development had boat or water access only,” which he acknowledged in the letter of consent that none of the lots had road access.
Twarog did add, however, that prior to becoming the listing agent, he had visited the development via a forestry road leading to his belief that the development had road access but became aware there was an issue in early October 2021. In December, the BCFSA got a complaint from the managing broker regarding the issue.
In spring 2022, the developer attempted to negotiate road access with a strata that had access through an easement, but was denied, prompting Twarog to amend his advertising.
A few years later, the BCFSA received another complaint in October 2025 as his advertising of a two-lot property was similarly misleading as only one of those had road access.
Further to those incidents, Twarog also failed to ensure the developer provided disclosure statements to buyers before entering into a purchase agreement. In the consent order, he admitted to having committed “professional misconduct,” and agreed to pay the BCFSA the $20,000 and enforcement expenses of $1,500. He was also ordered to take the Real Estate Trading Services Remedial Education Course by the Sauder School of Business at UBC.
This isn’t Twarog’s first infraction as he has a disciplinary history with the BCFSA’s predecessor, the Real Estate Council of BC, with misconduct charges in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2015.
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