B.C. Realtor’s ‘predatory and egregious’ misconduct prompts licence cancellation, $77K in penalties

Real estate sale signage is shown on a street in Oakville, Ont., west of Toronto, on Thursday, Nov.7, 2024. (Richard Buchan / The Canadian Press)

A former B.C. Realtor who convinced a client to sell her house – even though she didn’t want to – has been ordered to pay more than $75,000 to a provincial regulator.

Ismail Jamal Jinnah was fined $10,000 – the maximum penalty that was allowed at the time he committed his misconduct – and ordered to pay $67,223.39 to the B.C. Financial Services Authority for investigative and hearing expenses.

The BCFSA also cancelled his licence, though he had already ceased to be a real estate licensee as of March 2024.

The penalties were handed down last month, but the decision imposing them was published online Thursday. Jinnah was determined to have committed the misconduct in a previous decision published in September 2024.

• Read more: ‘Predatory’ behaviour: Realtor manipulated client into selling her house, B.C. regulator finds

In that previous decision, BCFSA hearing officer Thelma O’Grady concluded Jinnah had committed various forms of professional misconduct, including:

• Failing to disclose the nature of the representation he was providing;
• Failing to take reasonable steps to avoid a conflict of interest, and failing to disclose the conflict to his client;
• Failing to act honestly, with reasonable care and skill, and in the best interests of his client;
• And failing or refusing to co-operate with the regulator’s investigation.

The findings stemmed from a pair of transactions that Jinnah facilitated in 2015, which were the first two transactions of his career as a real estate licensee, according to the initial decision. The transactions involved two homeowners referred to as “Individual 1” and “Individual 2.”

Jinnah met Individual 1 through a dating app in 2014 and began a relationship with her, which he maintained was not romantic in nature, even though Individual 1 told the BCFSA she believed they were boyfriend and girlfriend.

Individual 1 told the regulator Jinnah frequently talked to her about selling her detached house in Surrey. She said she had no interest in doing so, but was ultimately persuaded in June 2015. That’s when Jinnah arranged a showing for Individual 2, who he had already identified as a potential buyer.

Ultimately, Individual 1 sold her property to Individual 2 for $539,000 and purchased Individual 2’s property – a Surrey townhouse – for $320,000, according to the decision.

Jinnah made more than $39,000 on the transactions after charging higher-than-average commission rates.

“Mr. Jinnah refused to accept that Individual 1 did not want to sell her house,” reads O’Grady’s first decision on the matter.

“He pressured and manipulated her to essentially switch properties with Individual 2. Mr. Jinnah took advantage of Individual 1 who, because she was in a close relationship with him and trusted him, was vulnerable. This type of behaviour can only be described as predatory.”

‘Significant’ sanctions

In considering what sanctions to impose on Jinnah in the most recent decision, O’Grady determined that Jinnah’s misconduct was severe and that the penalties should be “significant.”

“Mr. Jinnah has not acknowledged his misconduct nor taken any remedial action,” O’Grady’s sanctions decision reads.

“Throughout the hearing, Mr. Jinnah continued to deny misconduct and continued not to take responsibility for his actions.”

Likewise, the hearing officer noted that Jinnah’s misconduct “strikes at the heart of the real estate industry,” undermining public confidence in its operations.

“He took advantage of the trust and vulnerability of a client in order to advance his own interests,” the decision reads. “Then, he went on to deceive the regulator to avoid responsibility for his conduct to such a degree that it was found to be both professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming.”

O’Grady ordered the cancellation of Jinnah’s licence, noting that the BCFSA has the authority to do so even in cases in which the licensee has already surrendered it.

She also ordered the $10,000 fine and granted nearly all of the compensation the BCFSA requested for its expenses.

“Public interest is served by setting a penalty that communicates to Mr. Jinnah, the public and other licensees that it is unacceptable for licensees to take advantage of clients and to mislead the regulator during an investigation,” O’Grady’s decision reads.

Jinnah did not make any submissions or request an oral hearing on what penalties he should face.

In a news release announcing the sanctions decision Thursday, Jon Vandall, the BCFSA’s senior vice president of compliance and enforcement, called Jinnah’s behaviour “predatory and egregious.”

“The actions of Jinnah to use a close personal relationship to manipulate a client into selling their home is unacceptable and demonstrates a clear disregard for the established ethical expectations for licensees and the regulatory regime that is designed to protect consumers,” Vandall said.