A B.C. real estate agent has been ordered to pay $50,000 for misconduct while managing a property for a former client without proper licensing. A decision from the B.C. Financial Services Authority details incidents beginning in September 2021, when Hsiu-An Annie Shen, also known as Anna Shen, successfully represented a client purchasing a property in Vancouver. In October 2022, the client contacted Shen and asked for assistance renting out the property she helped her purchase—this was in preparation for the client’s move away from Vancouver for an extended period. Shen agreed to manage the property, even though she was only licensed in trading services, according to the BCFSA. As payment for managing the property, Shen would receive the equivalent of one month’s rent and a monthly fee of $150 to $250, depending on the needs of its tenants. As outlined in the decision, Shen secured tenants willing to pay $4,000 per month for the unit in July 2023 and deemed her property management services would cost $200 per month—on top of her $4,000 payment for securing tenancy. Shen told the client that a year’s worth of her $200 monthly fee could be paid up front as a lump sum of $2,400, but the client declined the offer, opting for monthly payments instead. No formal written agreement between Shen and the client setting out the terms of managing the property was made, the BCFSA notes. Missed communications The renters paid their damage deposit on July 17, 2023, and their first rent payment on July 31, according to the BCFSA. Shen told the client via text message that she would be notified once payments were sent, but that communication never came through. As instructed, the tenants sent the money to Shen’s personal bank account via e-transfer, the BCFSA detailed. On Aug. 1, 2023, the clients moved in. They noticed repairs were needed and alerted Shen, who then contacted the client asking for $2,000 to hire a handyman. The client asked first if the tenants had paid rent, and Shen did not answer. The client sent a follow-up text three days later, and again 10 days after that—still no text back from Shen, so the client sent her the money for the handyman anyway. More than a month after Shen’s last text message, the decision explained that the client hadn’t received any money, even though two rent payments should’ve been made. The client sent a text to Shen on Sept. 3, 2023, asking her to inquire about how the tenants were paying rent, but didn’t get a response. According to the BCFSA, Shen responded via email after 23 days and multiple attempts at contact from the client, stating “the tenants’ payments have gone towards the fee for securing the tenants, which was $6,400, that she was still $400 short, and that the remainder of the rent will go to (the client).” The tenants transferred $4,000 rent payments to Shen’s personal bank account on Aug. 31 and Oct. 16. The client inquired about the remainder of her rent for the month on Oct. 18, and Shen responded a day later, stating that the tenants emailed her just then to relay that they were late on their rent because they were overseas. Taking action The BCFSA’s decision outlines that the client sent a “without prejudice” email to Shen on Oct. 28, 2023. The email detailed the client’s dissatisfaction with Shen’s property management services, including not being paid any rent money since August, being deducted for a year’s management fee when she explicitly advised Shen that she would be paying it on a monthly basis, not providing receipts for the repairs as requested, evading questions when asked, and Shen not having the proper license to be providing rental property management services. The email came with a deadline of Nov. 3, 2023, to return all the client’s money—including $2,000 for the damage deposit and $12,000 for three months’ rent from August to October—totalling $14,000. Shen sent the tenants’ agent an email 41 minutes later, with instructions to start sending rent money directly to the client instead. She then responded to the client’s email. Among other things, Shen told the client she paid the handyman in cash and, as a result, had no receipts. The BCFSA said the client travelled to Vancouver and met with Shen’s managing broker on Nov. 2, 2023, to report everything she had done and demand payment. The managing broker had no prior knowledge of Shen providing property management service, having money sent directly to her bank account, or operating outside the brokerage without a proper license, the authority noted. The managing broker ordered Shen to return all the money to the client, plus $1,800 in travel expenses they incurred flying to Vancouver to deal with the situation. Later that month, the managing broker reported Shen to the BCFSA for providing rental property management without a license. As the authority explained, Shen had fully repaid the client by Jan. 5, 2024, but the managing broker had already surrendered her license to the BCFSA for “behaviour unbecoming of a real estate agent.” The decision The BCFSA found that Shen committed professional misconduct between May and November of 2023 in relation to a property owned by her previous client. She was ordered to pay a $50,000 discipline penalty to the BCFSA within three months of the order, dated July 15, 2026. If she doesn’t pay, a BCFSA superintendent would have the right to suspend or cancel her license without further notice.
