UPDATE: Information for Landlord, Tenant, and Other Clients Regarding the Rescinded Order in Urgent Circumstances to RIF – Rent It Furnished Inc., dba Rent it Furnished Realty (“RIF”)

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Today, BCFSA varied the Urgent Order suspending RIF’s licence and rescinded the Urgent Order freezing the brokerage’s trust accounts, which allows RIF to resume providing rental property management and real estate services and disperse funds to its clients. The Urgent Order suspending RIF’s licence has been varied and remains in force and imposes conditions that require RIF to provide monthly trust account reconciliations to BCFSA until its disciplinary hearing, currently scheduled for November 12, 2024.

On July 25, 2024, BCFSA issued an Urgent Order to freeze RIF’s trust accounts and to suspend its licence. The Order was one of a series of escalating actions BCFSA took after RIF was unable to comply with an August 22, 2023 Consent Order that required it to produce reconciled trust accounts over the last year. Since the Urgent Order was issued, RIF hired accounting firm KPMG Forensic Inc. and on Wednesday, August 7, 2024, RIF supplied BCFSA with trust reconciliations that show sufficient funds are in the accounts to cover trust liabilities. As these records show that consumer funds are no longer at risk, BCFSA has unfrozen the trust accounts.

Landlord clients of RIF and their tenants may be wondering how this impacts them. BCFSA has the following information:

For Landlord Clients

Will I now receive my rental payments from RIF?

BCFSA has rescinded the freeze order on the RIF rental trust accounts, and payments from the accounts may resume.

For Tenants

Does the Urgent Order impact my tenancy agreement?

No, there are no impacts to tenancy agreements as a result of the Urgent Order.

I am a tenant of a RIF landlord client. Will I still be able to pay my rent?

Tenants should continue to pay rent according to the terms of their tenancy agreement.

Will I now receive my damage deposit back?

BCFSA has varied the Urgent Order and payments may resume.

Why Did This Happen?

BCFSA holds brokerages to high professional and regulatory standards, and expects them to remain compliant with the Real Estate Services Act.

As the regulator, BCFSA’s role includes ensuring that the proper controls and accounting are in place to protect consumers whose deposits are held in trust. We do this by conducting inspections and working with brokerages and licensees to ensure compliance.

RIF was found to have committed professional misconduct between February 2017 and September 2020 and has been subject to a Consent Order since August 22, 2023. RIF has been non-compliant with the terms of the August 2023 Consent Order, which required it to provide monthly reconciliations of its trust accounts. Multiple of these trust account reconciliations have been deficient, which led to the accounts being frozen.

Since the Urgent Order, RIF has hired KPMG and provided BCFSA with trust account reconciliations that show that consumer funds are no longer at risk. BCFSA has rescinded the Order to allow payments from the trust accounts to resume.

On August 16, 2024, BCFSA added links to the August 9 orders and clarified the conditions of the Order to Vary Suspension Order.

Additional Resources

Media Contact:
Kate Bilney
Communications Manager, (778) 357-1634, [email protected]
Visit: www.bcfsa.ca