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Asset West Property Management review: Darren Potter Steals Money 17

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7:27 pm EDT
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Darren Potter stole my money and was caught and had to pay it back after I called the RCMP Police. Here is some additional information on Darren Potter and Asset West. Beware if you want to deal with these people.

Inv. File #: 1831-05
REAL ESTATE COUNCIL OF ALBERTA
NOTICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTY
To:
Asset West Property Management Ltd., Brokerage
729 – 10th Street
Canmore, AB T1W 2A3
And to:
Darren Potter, Broker
c/o Asset West Property Management Ltd.
729 – 10th Street
Canmore, AB T1W 2A3
In accordance with s. 39 and s. 83 of the Real Estate Act (the “Act”) and the
Act’s Bylaws, the Executive Director of the Real Estate Council of Alberta has
determined that there is sufficient evidence of conduct deserving of sanction in
regard to Darren Potter (“Potter”) and Asset West Property Management Ltd.
(“Asset West”) to assess an Administrative Penalty. The evidence giving rise to
the Executive Director’s decision is as follows.

Asset West was at all relevant times, and continues to be, registered as a
brokerage. Darren Potter (“Potter”) was at all relevant times, and continues to
be, registered as broker for Asset West. Asset West entered into a property
management agreement with Loretta Fiorillo (“Fiorillo”) to manage a rental
property in Canmore, Alberta. The terms of the property management
agreement gave Asset West the authority to hold money in trust for the benefit of
Fiorillo, and in particular, it allowed Asset West to deposit and disburse money
from an operating account. The terms of the property management agreement
also authorized Asset West to pay all operating expenses from the operating
account.

Asset West paid an invoice submitted to it by Canmore Maintenance
notwithstanding that: there was no evidence that the work as described in the
invoice had been completed; the invoice was delivered approximately 7 months
after its date.

The terms of the property management agreement obliged Asset West to provide
a cheque to Fiorillo for the proceeds (rent collected less expenses) in any given
month on or before the 10th day of the following month. The proceeds for
October, 2004 totaled $981.88, further to which Asset West was obliged to remit
a cheque for $981.88 to Fiorillo on or before November 10, 2004.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, Asset West did not remit a cheque to Asset West
for the October, 2004 proceeds until on or about January 10, 2005.
On or about May 12, 2005, Asset West delivered documents to RECA’s
investigator further to a request from RECA’s investigator to produce documents
as part of the investigation into Fiorillo’s complaint. Asset West paid the $12.84
courier charge to deliver these documents to RECA from the operating account it
held for Fiorillo, notwithstanding that nothing under terms of trust governing the
operating account allowed Asset West to do so.

In or about February, 2005, Fiorillo provided notice to Asset West that she
wished terminate the property management agreement effective April 30, 2005.
Contrary to the terms of trust governing the operating account held by Asset
West on Fiorillo’s behalf, Asset West withdrew two months of property
management fees totaling $11233.02 in April, 2005, notwithstanding that only one
further month of services under the property management agreement was
provided by Asset West to Fiorillo.

Further to all of the foregoing, the Executive Director believes that Asset West’s
conduct is deserving of sanction further to s. 25(1)(d) of the Act, which provides
as follows:

25(1) An industry member who is required by the rules to keep and
operate a trust account shall(d) disburse money received or held in trust in respect of a
dealing or trade only in accordance with the rules and with
the terms of the trust governing the use of that money.
In accordance with s. 39 and 83 of the Act, and Part 4 of the Act’s Bylaws, an
Administrative Penalty in the amount of $1, 500 has been assessed against Asset
West and Potter both jointly and severally. Payment of this Administrative
Penalty shall be accepted by the Executive Director as complete satisfaction of
the amount of the penalty and no further proceedings under Part 6 of the Act will
be taken against in respect of the contravention.
This sum is payable to the Real Estate Council of Alberta at the above noted
address within 30 days of the date of issuance of this Notice of Administrative
Penalty. If you fail to pay the amount set out in this notice, the Executive Director
may commence legal action against you to recover the amount owing in respect
of the Administrative Penalty as a debt due to the Real Estate Council of Alberta.
If you dispute this Notice of Administrative Penalty, you may appeal it to a
Hearing Panel further to s. 35 of the Act. You will be given a full opportunity
consistent with procedural fairness and natural justice to present evidence before
the Hearing Panel and make representations in relation to the contravention

If you have any questions regarding this Notice of Administrative Penalty, please
contact Todd M. Lee of Miles Davison LLP at [protected].

REAL ESTATE COUNCIL OF ALBERTA
Per: Kirk Bacon
Bob Myroniuk
Executive Director

Asset West Property Management customer support contacts
Address

Suite 300, 729 - 10th Street, Canmore, AB, T1W 2A3, CA

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Thank you to the industry member who had alerted us to this posting. In reviewing i can confirm that the details contained within this post are a cut and paste from the actual document that is filed with the Real Estate Council of Alberta, and that the information contained withinthe posting on this site, has been malicoulsy altered and does not reflect the actual document in its entirety. In the coming week we will be posting a direct reply to the altered information. I always caution that the internet can be great forum, but also one of negaitivity...especially when the author has the ability to hide behind an alias. In the mean time, ahead of our direct reply, i would urge anyone with concerns or questions regarding the concerns posted herein to feel free to call me directly at anytime, 403.678.3000. Thank you in advance, Darren
Asset West Property Management customer support contacts
Address

Suite 300, 729 - 10th Street, Canmore, AB, T1W 2A3, CA

File a complaint Write a review
Due to an unforeseen health matter I was not able to follow thru in a timely fashion to my last posting of response, as I felt it was a better use of time to ensure our clients are looked after.

To reconfirm, I admit that there were 3 errors made in 2004. However the information posted by “Frank” is incorrect, altered, false, and very misleading. I suspect this is why “Frank” wishes to remain anonymous as he or she is probably fully aware that due to the posting he or she has crossed a number of legal thresholds for which he or she can be held fully accountable for (by both the Real Estate Council of Alberta as well as myself) including the placement of legal charges.

The 3 errors that were made are:
a) Payment to Canmore Maintenance ahead of reviewing the invoiced work. (we fully agree all work should have been viewed and or inspected, regardless of the fact that the contractor had a long standing good reputation at the time, and does once again under their new management/ownership)
b) Delay in responding to the clients query on the issuance of a replacement proceeds payment. (Although no mention of this is made, the client had called us and advised that they did not believe they had received the October proceeds payment from their property and in the same conversation added that it was possible it was in a pile of mail on their desk. We suggested they review one last time, and if nothing found to advise us so we could issue a replacement cheque. The client then notified us in December they had not located the cheque. We agreed to reissue, and in error this was delayed and not completed until the first week of January).
c) In finalizing the client’s management we in error withdrew 2 months management fees as closing costs ($233.02), as this is our normal closing costs as provided for within the residential management agreement. In this client’s case, it was negotiated to remove the standard 2 months, and reduce it to 1 months closing fees. The amount that should have been charged to the clients account was $116.51). NOTE: the amount of $11, 233.62 as posted by “Frank” is incorrect and false.

Although the poster has mentioned the involvement of the RCMP, this is both false, and misleading.

The use of the words “fraud” and “steals money” are also false, misleading, and slanderous.

As mentioned, I completely admit to the 3 errors, and further admitted to the errors without protest to both the client and to the Real Estate Council of Alberta, and in doing so did not appeal the “Administrative Penalty” applied by our governing body, the Real Estate Council of Alberta, as I felt it was in the clients best interest to be able to put this behind them.

During these unfortunate events, I implemented new policies, which continue in place to today, which includes:
a) The use of formal Purchase Orders for maintenance and repair items on all properties
b) The immediate reissuance of any cheque at the mention that a client has either not received their funds, or may have misplaced the actual cheque.
c) Monthly Electronic Funds Transfers were implemented (for any and all clients who wished to be enrolled) to avoid any potential delay in their receiving their monthly proceeds.

I believe it is also important to reconfirm that these events took place in 2004, and that the Real Estate Council of Alberta has now removed the posting from its website (if you would like a copy of the actual transcript or Notice of Administrative Penalty please do not hesitate to contact me directly, or the Real Estate Council of Alberta).

We pride ourselves on responding to any and all concerns presented.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and to both our current and future clients for their trust in us. Because of this trust and our focus on personal, professional, cost-effective management, our management portfolio has continued to grow year after year. If you would like to see past and recent comments from our clients, please do not hesitate to visit the "testimonial" section of our website.

Integrity and Trust are paramount in managing all of our client’s properties. Our clients continue to provide praise and thank you for our hard work on their behalf. We hope we can be of assistance to you as well.

Yours truly,

Darren A. Potter, CPM®, CMOC
Managing Director / Broker
Phone (403) 678-3000
Resolved

The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer's satisfaction.

17 comments
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Trey696969
, CA
Nov 16, 2018 7:25 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Asset west is an absolute joke! They sent me an email concerning mould damage, and when I hired a contractor to fix the problem they call me and tell me that I need to cease work on it until they approve a condo renovation (which takes months)... stay far far away from this company, they only seek to collect fees for everything that you would like to do with your own property.

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UK Owner
, GB
Oct 13, 2017 9:28 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I've been dealing with AW and DP for over 5 years now and to be honest I haven't got a good word to say about them. We're overseas and they take advantage of that month after month, so much so we are seriously considering selling our condo and its solely down to their poor service and total lack of respect.

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Andrew Kelly
, US
Jun 16, 2017 5:36 am EDT

A complete [censor], as I had a job interview with him back in November of 2012 and he started throwing a piece of paper around insulting my education. I left in tears from his Calgary office. I have more education and experience then he will see in his life time from university to community college.

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Angry Customer2016
, CA
Oct 31, 2016 1:58 pm EDT

To clarify my comment above, I was referring to My Darren Potter.

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Angry Customer2016
, CA
Oct 31, 2016 1:56 pm EDT

If you have a complaint regarding the person above, to whom would you refer the complaint to?

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Veeral
, CA
Sep 09, 2016 6:48 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I have been waiting 9 months now to receive my deposit back from Darren Potter. Darren claims on the May 27 2011 posting that he has implemented new policies to ensure clients are paid back. I have yet to see this process happen in my case.

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L Dwaiow
, US
May 18, 2016 11:09 am EDT

I strongly agree asset west is total ### and have useless people in management, all garbage

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It's shameful
, CA
Nov 24, 2015 1:01 pm EST

Have you seen the montane recently !
Flyers were posted saying the front entrance would be repaired in a month from August 30th 2015 to September 30th 2015 due to issues with the plumbing. Within that month almost no work was done banff plumbing came near the end if the month fixed the pipes and asset west waited until the second snow fall to have them covered. It is now November 23rd and they haven't done anything to put the entrance back together. And very little to almost no work has been done with no updates on how long it may take to finish. I don't like the way asset west management manages and I don't care for peak either they just bully people into moving out so they can jack the rent up ! I think it's about time canmore found new reputable condo management !

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Frustrated landlord
, CA
Feb 03, 2015 5:55 pm EST

Stay away from this management company! When something happens, you will never get a hold of anyone to talk to you. The only way is to try to send emails. First the email will get ignored. As the emails get angrier, then someone will send you back an email telling you they will get back to you by a certain time and a certain date. Of course, they will never get back to you as the promised time. Then the email then gets even angrier, and they will send back another email to tell you they will get back to you at another time and date. Of course, nothing happened. Then even more angrier emails will be sent, and then finally they send you back an email to tell you something is being done. Never call you back. Go to PEKA. The boss in Asset West is based in Calgary, and is too busy to take care of his Canmore branch, and is extremely bad at getting back to you. PEKA, on the other hand, is based in Canmore, and they have much more staff to handle things, and they always get back to you within a very reasonable amount of time.

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Out of town landlord
, US
Oct 22, 2014 10:22 am EDT

I wish I had come across this site earlier. I have dealt with Asset West for a few years. When nothing went wrong, you don't notice anything. It is when things do go wrong that you will not be able to get ahold of them to discuss. They don't help you to deal with the tenant matters. My tenants did big damage to common property in August, and I was just made aware of the issue after the condo board sent be the bill 2 weeks ago! I have been trying to get ahold of someone in Asset West, and so far, no luck! You phone them: you got the voice mail. You try to email them: they said they will get back to you, but never did! After these tenants of mine move out, I will definitely go to PEKA.

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angry1981
calgary, CA
Sep 14, 2014 11:27 pm EDT

Im so happy i found this page i wondered if i was alone with my feelings. My first month living in the house they took two months worth of rent by mistake caused me a 45.00 nsf charge when i demanded that reimbursed they told me they would try but it could take as long as 6weeks. 5 months later i get told there waiting for a cheque from head office... its been a month since that message and I'm still waiting...
6 months as well and still damages from the prior tenant are outstanding. it was noted on our walk through our patio door was broken, 2 weeks later i emailed them because it appeared someone tried to get in and it still took them months to get to it. When they finally did they sent a maintenance guy who I'm sure was on a day pass from the nursing
home

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Tenile
, CA
Mar 27, 2014 4:11 pm EDT

Asset West does nothing. They take HUGE amounts of condo fees from us and do nothing when there is an issue. I had to wait a year to get my floor replaced after a flood (that was not my fault - two other condo units that affected mine) and now i've had a mold issue (with a newborn in the condo) and they have taken their sweet ### time in doing anything. I sit here now with exposed brick and wide open patio doors because I cant put my curtains back up because its only cement! This has been over 3 weeks now, Just a useless waste of a company if you ask me. I can't WAIT to sell my place and NEVER deal with them again. USLESS.

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Rocky Mountain Rick
Banff, CA
Sep 09, 2011 8:08 pm EDT

I disagree with this completely. Asset West has been completely professional for us! When you have a concern, they approach it in reasonable time. In my case, I had a concern about a repair that was done as I didn't believe it was done as well as it could have been. I called and expressed my concern, they listened to my opinion and they came over to understand my concern. After a good discussion about what I expected and they expected, we decided that yes in fact, it could have been done better. A couple days later, it was fixed and the contractor apologized to us (not necessary!). I know that guy didn't work for Assetwest, and was a subcontract, but it was nice to know that Assetwest really took time to make sure all was right, and they protected me as a tentant.

And I know in my case, Asset West may manage the building and our suite, but they didn't manage ALL the units in the building. So, this review is just hateful and for some reason someone without a spine is trying to spread lies. Decide for yourself, because (even though I don't live in an Asset West suite anymore) I certainly enjoyed my time dealing with them!

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themac
Canmore, CA
Sep 09, 2011 12:38 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Darren Potter and Asset West are useless. All the buildings are full of party people. Tons of drugs and drinking and loud music all night. Then when you complain they say hey just phone the RCMP dont bother us we are busy just taking your money and doing nothing with it.

If you are looking for a property management company steer away from asset west! They will bill you like crazy and do nothing. They had some painters outside our condo and it said on september 7 2011 we will be painting. Well its now september 8th and all these bums do is get paint all over my car and patio then cuss at me when i complain.

I complain to asset west and well "Its not our problem its yours." I suggest using peka instead at least they listen to you. Dont let Darren Potter steal your money. Avoid Asset West Buildings at all costs!

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Unfairly Treated In Canmore
Camrose, CA
Aug 08, 2011 7:36 pm EDT

I was

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Patty Ward
Canmore, CA
Sep 03, 2010 12:39 pm EDT

He ripped us off big time when looking after our property when we lived in England and he was supposed to be looking after our property here. He invented loads of jobs for his friends to do at ridiculous costs, especially at times like New Years Eve when his mates charged triple - Cannot suggest strongly enough you avoid this bloke at all costs !1

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JuJo
Canmore, CA
Jul 30, 2010 11:06 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I strongly agree. Stay as far away as possible from these people. They are BAD NEWS!