The province’s real estate regulator has suspended the licence of Vancouver rental property manager Rent it Furnished Realty after discovering trust shortages.
BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) issued an “urgent order” against the brokerage firm after its trust accounts — where rent and security deposits are placed — were not reconciled for nearly one year.
The BCFSA also froze the firm’s trust accounts, meaning landlord clients of Rent it Furnished Realty (RIF) will not have access to any rental payments deposited into the frozen RIF accounts.
Anyone renting from Rent it Furnished Realty is asked to continue paying their rent, according to the terms of their tenancy agreement.
“If tenants hear from their landlord, landlords should ensure they can prove to the tenant they are the landlord/property owner. Tenants cannot be evicted for non-payment of rent or non-payment of deposit if it was paid to RIF as per the tenancy agreement,” stated BCFSA.
“The decision to freeze the accounts is one of a series of escalating actions taken by BCFSA due to RIF’s ongoing non-compliance with the terms of its Aug. 22, 2023, consent order and its repeated inability to reconcile its rental trust accounts over the last year,” the regulator stated July 26.
Rent it Furnished Realty and its managing broker admitted professional misconduct between February 2017 and September 2020 by failing to identify six shortages totalling $5,773 and failing to rectify the shortages. It was fined $17,000.
“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, BCFSA’s vice-president of compliance and enforcement.
RIF was also the subject of a consent order on April 11, 2016 when it was reprimanded and ordered to pay a $5,000 discipline penalty and enforcement expense of $1,500.
BCFSA stated the brokerage “was found to have failed to maintain proper books, accounts, and records, and failed to maintain and prepare monthly reconciliation of bank statements for each trust account. It was placed on enhanced supervision conditions as a result of the 2016 consent order.”
Rent It Furnished to conduct an audit
In a written statement, Rent It Furnished CEO Erika Weimer apologized for the disruption caused to landlords and tenants following the BCFSA suspension.
"Our company relies on sophisticated payment platforms and complex automation which — while robust — failed to meet the BCFSA’s reporting standards," she said.
"We are working round-the-clock and taking decisive action to rectify the situation. To ensure full transparency and accountability, we engaged the independent and highly respected financial services firm KPMG to conduct an audit of our accounts starting this morning. We are confident this audit will unequivocally confirm the security and accuracy of every dollar in our trust and will support the BCFSA reinstating our licence, which is critical given that our clients have mortgages to pay," Weimer wrote.
She noted the company is preparing a proposal for the regulator that could allow Rent It Furnished to resume services during the audit, "ensuring that our clients can manage their financial obligations and tenancy arrangements, and that we can address urgent housing issues, such as leaks and other maintenance concerns."
Editor's note: This story was updated to include comment from Rent It Furnished.
