Former iPro Realty brokers due outstanding commission payments are balking at language in settlement agreements offered by the Real Estate Council of Ontario’s insurance provider, The Globe and Mail reported.

The realtors are worried that the agreement contains clauses that will deprive them of full repayment later, according to the Globe.

Nayaki Penumarthy, one of 2,400 former iPro realtors, told the Globe that most of the company’s former brokers are refusing to sign right now.

“The first part says it’s a full and final release, which I do not agree to accept,” she said. “They keep saying it’s a standard clause, but this is not a standard situation.”

The squabble comes after Jean Lépine, the newly appointed administrator of RECO, pledged in a statement last week that the insurance provider would speed up the repayment schedule and begin offering up to 50% repayment of insured commission claims within weeks instead of month, as had previously been announced.

The company’s two co-founders have admitted to mishandling $10.5 million place in realtor and client trust accounts.

Insurance provider Alternative Risk Services has stated that signing the documents won’t prevent realtors from receiving future payment.

But Alan Silverstein, a lawyear who was a founding board member of RECO and helped set up its insurance program, told the Globe that the agreements, from a legal perspective, don’t offer the prospect of any more money.

“It doesn’t say ‘if any additional money is available, we’re going to send it to you,’” he told his interviewer.

The document states the agreement is “a full and final compromise in settlement of all claims that were or could have been brought for coverage under the policy,” according to the Globe.

A RECO spokesperson told the Globe that the document is a standard agreement that has been used in previous circumstances involving a partial payout.

Alternate Risk Services has stated that the total claims related to iPro will exceed $30 million, ranking it as the largest insurance event in the RECO program’s history, and more than 1,000 of 2,000 commission claims have been processed, the Globe reported.

The squabble comes after Brenda Buchanan, the regulator’s CEO, resigned effective December 31. Lépine will succeed Buchanan as CEO, while she provides support during the transition.

The Ontario government fired RECO’s entire eight member board in late November and Lépine began his work as the organization’s administrator December 1.

He is tasked with rebuilding the real estate industry and public’s trust following the iPro scandal and heavy criticism that RECO’s former board and Buchanan have received.

RECO closed iPro months after finding that $10.5 million had been withdrawn, allegedly illegally, from the former trust accounts. The company later paid back $3 million and co-founders Rui Alves, who is a former RECO board member, and Fede Colucci agreed never to apply to certify a brokerage again or serve as brokers. As a result, they were not fined or charged.

Premier Doug Ford has vowed to support real estate agents who did not receive their commissions as a result of iPro’s closure following the company’s admission that it mishandled client and broker funds.

But Alternative Risk Services previously warned that there will not be enough money to pay all realtors the amounts due.

Pictured: Former iPro listing.

Photo: iPro/Realtor.ca