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The Toronto Real Estate Board terminated a member’s access for the first time in its history because the realtor’s website "misappropriated" listing data to build a competing business, a court has been told.

"This was a dramatic event, since it represented a significant change in the way business was being conducted," TREB lawyer Bill Sasso told Justice David Brown in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice yesterday.

"It was the first time that a member sought to take all residential listing data and republish it and make it available as a website. No one had ever done that before."

The suit filed by Toronto realtor Fraser Beach alleges his access to the Multiple Listing Service, a database of homes available for sale, was shut down three days after he started his business in May of 2007.

Beach’s lawyer, Randy Pepper, denied the intent was to build a competing organization. He argued in court filings that what really worried the board was the presence of discounters who would "offer real estate brokerages at lower rates."

Pepper said Beach’s website, www.realestateplus.ca, since sold, operated like any other realty website offering listings to consumers.

"Quite frankly we were no different than other member websites," said Pepper affordable health insurance low income. He submitted into evidence other realty websites for comparison, including former TREB president Dorothy Mason’s. Mason led the board at the time.

The landmark case is being monitored by the Competition Bureau, because it could determine whether Toronto’s real estate board can block similar competitors. Beach is not asking for damages, but for his membership to be reinstated.

TREB lawyer Sasso argued the case had nothing to do with TREB’s stand on discount brokers who lower agent commissions, but simply whether Beach, a member, and his then partner, BNV Real Estate, a Bell Canada subsidiary, broke rules.

Under Bell’s business plan, it would invest $29 million to start a "lower-cost-offering" service that would charge consumers 25 per cent less than current commission rates charged by realtors. The telecom is not a part of the lawsuit.

Sasso sought to have one of Beach’s lawyers, Lawrence Dale, removed as a counsel for contempt of court, alleging Dale submitted data to the Competition Bureau in violation of restrictions. Brown will rule on the matter later.

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