Real Estate Licensee Fined $10,000 and Loses License After Manipulating Client into Selling Their Home

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Ismail Jamal Jinnah behaved in a predatory manner when he took advantage of his personal relationship with a client to convince her to sell her home and earn an “above-market” commission.

BCFSA has fined Ismail Jamal Jinnah the maximum penalty available for committing professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming of a real estate licensee. At an October 1, 2024, hearing, BCFSA cancelled Jinnah’s real estate licence, fined him $10,000, and ordered him to pay $67,223.39 to BCFSA for investigative and hearing expenses.

The fine and licence cancellation related to two connected real estate transactions where Jinnah pressured and manipulated his client to sell their property through a sales process with another individual. Jinnah took advantage of his client who was vulnerable because she was in a close relationship with him and trusted him. Jinnah was found to have failed to:

Disclose the nature of the representation he was providing to the client whom he had a close relationship with;
Promptly and fully disclose any conflict of interest to his client, and take reasonable steps to avoid the conflict of interest;
Act in the best interest of his client and act honestly and with reasonable care and skill; and
Disclose all known material information to his client.

In addition, Jinnah provided false and misleading statements to BCFSA during its investigation and mischaracterized the relationship he had with his client to conceal the conflict of interest.

The misconduct occurred in 2015 when Jinnah was licensed as a trading representative with RE/MAX Blueprint Realty. Jinnah had established a close, personal relationship with a client who owned a detached home and advised her to sell it, despite the client expressing that she did not want to sell her home. Jinnah continued to pressure her and advised her that selling the home was a smart financial move. Jinnah also told the client he would be charging above-market commission on the sale because of the value of his work.

“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,” said Jon Vandall, Senior Vice President of Compliance and Enforcement at BCFSA. “This behaviour was so predatory and egregious, BCFSA is issuing the maximum penalty available.”

Jinnah has not been licensed to provide real estate trading services since March 2024.