BC regulator suspends rental housing management firm of 350 properties

BC regulator suspends Vancouver-based rental housing management company of 350 properties

An example of a Vancouver furnished condominium home listing. (Rent It Furnished Realty)

A provincial regulator has suspended the operating license of a Vancouver-based rental property brokerage for continued non-compliance with financial record reporting requirements.

In a bulletin issued last week, BC Financial Services Authority (BFSA) suspended the license of Rent It Furnished Realty and froze its rental trust accounts.

A rental trust account is a bank account dedicated to collecting rent, security deposits, and other fees paid by tenants. The money must be deposited into the specified trust account and is subject to auditing annually. This is intended to protect the money of tenants and landlords and reduce the potential for misappropriation of funds.

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Rent It Furnished Realty oversees about 350 properties across British Columbia, and the latest move, according to BFSA, is intended to protect the tenants and landlords of these properties.

This amounts to an escalation in punitive measures on the company after an August 2023 consent order outlining the terms the company must follow after its managing broker admitted to misconduct between February 2017 and September. This includes failing to identify six shortages in the rental trust accounts totalling $5,773.18, failing to take immediate steps to rectify the shortages, and failing to notify BCFSA of the negative balance within 10 days of the occurrence.

As a result, in August 2023, Rent It Furnished Realty was ordered to pay a $17,000 fine and cover $1,500 in enforcement expenses.

“The decision to freeze the accounts of this brokerage was not taken lightly. The brokerage’s monthly trust accounts were not reconciled in accordance with the August 2023 Consent Order and have remained deficient,” said Jon Vandall, the vice president of compliance and enforcement for BCFSA, in a statement.

“We acknowledge the serious impact this may have on landlords and tenants. A freeze order is the best mechanism to protect trust funds and address the accounting deficiencies of the brokerage. We must take action to protect the interests of consumers and the integrity of the sector.”

According to BCFSA, landlords are not permitted to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent or deposit if it was paid to Rent It Furnished Realty. Furthermore, landlords will not have access to money managed on their behalf by the company’s accounts and are advised to take the necessary steps to change their rental payment arrangement.

Tenants are advised to continue paying their rent according to the terms of their tenancy agreement, and urged to confirm this person is the property owner. BCFSA makes it clear that tenants who paid rent directly to Rent It Furnished Realty are not required to pay the rent a second time to the landlord.

Rent It Furnished Realty was also the subject of a consent order by the provincial Crown corporation in April 2016, when it was reprimanded and ordered to pay a $5,000 discipline penalty and enforcement expense of $1,500. The 2016 order by BCFSA was related to the company’s failure to maintain books, accounts, and records and failure to maintain and prepare monthly reconciliations of bank statements for each trust account. Following the 2016 order, it was placed on “enhanced supervision conditions.”

According to Rent It Furnished Realty’s website, the company describes itself as a “leading provider of luxury rental property in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and New York,” representing over 5,000 luxury furnished properties. In addition to its Vancouver headquarters, Rent It Furnished Realty has offices in Toronto and Montreal.

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