Former Attorney General raises concerns following financial regulator’s punitive action

B.C.’S former attorney general is raising concerns about a recent decision by the province’s financial regulator that he believes could have implications across the sector. Acting as legal representative for Rent It Furnished, Wally Oppal said the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) suspended his client’s licence and froze trust accounts under an unfair urgent order.

The July 25 order itself stated the BCFSA had zero evidence of a public complaint, nor evidence of misappropriation of trust funds. Prior to issuing the order, the BCFSA also didn’t give Rent It Furnished an opportunity to defend itself.

The order was rescinded today following an urgent legal hearing that included results from KPMG’s third-party forensic audit, which Rent It Furnished commissioned to vindicate itself.

“The BCFSA has a legitimate role to protect the public, but this suspension didn’t fit the circumstances and caused widespread disruption to the business and members of the public who depend on it,” said Oppal, who served for almost 25 years as a BC Supreme Court and Appeals Court justice before becoming attorney general. “While Rent It Furnished had some administrative issues, the order was unnecessarily punitive, especially considering the business is classified an essential service. I am pleased the BCFSA took a second look and rescinded it.”

Rent It Furnished is a long-established Vancouver-based company that provides furnished rentals and property management services in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

Founder and CEO Erika Weimer agrees there were issues with how reports were being reconciled and generated on the company’s automated systems, but she and her staff were working actively with the BCFSA to resolve the issues when the order blindsided them.

“I am still numb from what happened because there was zero evidence of misappropriation of trust funds, which we fought relentlessly to prove,” said Weimer, who started the company 15 years ago. “Though the suspension was brief, thousands of our landlords and tenants were disrupted and had to seek temporary assistance outside of our company to pay and receive rent, and we were forbidden from tending to building maintenance emergencies.”

Rent It Furnished resumed operations today and staff is working diligently to process rent transactions between landlords and tenants and tend to maintenance emergencies.

Rent It Furnished still faces a disciplinary hearing scheduled for November 12 to 14, and until then, is required to provide the BCFSA monthly trust reconciliation accounts.