A two-time former Bahamas Real Estate Association (BREA) president yesterday said he was “not surprised” at the verdict won by ex-minister George Smith, and renewed his call for the Association and Real Estate Board to be separate.

Pat Strachan, of Pat Strachan Realty, told Tribune Business that the Real Estate (Brokers and Salesmen) Act 1995 only permitted the publication of the names of all realtors who had paid their due licensing/registration fees - not those who had failed to meet this obligation.

“I’m not surprised the court ruled in favour of George Smith,” Mr Strachan told Tribune Business.

“The Act never spoke about publication of those names of people who haven’t paid. It only speaks about persons whose dues are paid.”

The publication of Mr Smith’s name among 70 realtors who had failed to pay their licence fees sparked the legal action and Supreme Court verdict that has stunned BREA and its senior executives.

The Real Estate (Brokers and Salesmen) Act 1995 requires the publication after January 1 of a list of all brokers and salesmen who are current at that date.

And after July 1, it must publish a list of all brokers and salesman “registered or who ceased to be registered” between January 1 and that date.

Mr Strachan described Justice Deborah Fraser’s ruling in favour of Mr Smith as “incredible”, and questioned how much money in damages and costs he would be awarded.

Calling for further reform, Mr Strachan urged that the profession’s regulatory and representative functions be split by separating BREA from the Real Estate Board.

“It has always been my position that the Board ought to be separate and apart from the Association,” he told Tribune Business.

“BREA should provide avenues and benefits to its members, and advance the interests of its members.”

Mr Strachan has previously demanded that the practice of publishing the ‘delinquent realtors’ list be abandoned.

And he urged those wrongly named to file a lawsuit against BREA, noting that it could damage a person’s reputation and give the impression that the individual may have committed an unethical act.

Mr Smith and his attorney, Raynard Rigby, argued that BREA had violated section 35 of the Real Estate (Brokers and Salesmen) Act, which requires the Real Estate Board to give a hearing to all applications made to it under that law.

The ex-MP and Cabinet Minister previously admitted he had been behind on his licence fees, albeit for one month and the first-time ever.

BREA’s position is that Mr Smith had never applied for such a hearing, but Justice Fraser disagreed.

“She said that the letter that he wrote in July 2014, where he includes a cheque for his and his son Andrew’s dues, in her opinion, is the notice that we should have accepted, even though it never mentions that he wanted to be heard or anything relating to section 35,” Carla Sweeting, BREA’s president, said.

“It simply read, (paraphrasing), that he was constrained to re-apply and therefore his cheque was in closed for his dues.”