Real Estate Licensee Found Liable for Misconduct for Manipulating Client Into Selling Her Home

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

BCFSA has found Ismail Jamal Jinnah committed professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming a real estate licensee. The misconduct findings stem from two connected real estate transactions where Jinnah pressured and manipulated his client to switch properties with another individual. Jinnah took advantage of his client, who was vulnerable because she was in a close relationship with him and trusted him. He also 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, and take reasonable steps to avoid the conflict of interest;
Act in the best interest of a client and act honestly and with reasonable care and skill; and
Disclose all known material information to a client.

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

The misconduct occurred in 2015 while 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.

BCFSA found that Jinnah established a client relationship through his conduct despite the client having initialed a Working with a Realtor form that referenced a customer relationship. Jinnah advised the client to sell her property, arranged and conducted a showing of the client’s property, took the client to view listings, had access to the client’s personal information, and had established trust with the client.

Throughout the transactions, Jinnah did not act honestly or with reasonable care and skill and failed to disclose all known material information about the transactions to his client. He did not provide copies of documents the client had signed, he added and removed subjects to contracts of purchase and sale without explaining them to the client, and did not advise the client to obtain independent legal advice when making important decisions outside of his expertise such as subject removals, home upgrades, and being exposed to the risk of closing on a property purchase without having proceeds from the sale of her home.

“The licensee exploited his personal relationship with a client, while being in a position of trust and influence, in a manner that can only be described as predatory,” said Jonathan Vandall, Vice President of Compliance and Enforcement at BCFSA.

“Pressuring or manipulating a client in order to sell a property or earn higher commission is conduct that falls alarmingly short of the professional standards that BCFSA expects licensees to uphold.”

Jinnah has not been licensed to provide real estate trading services since March 2024. A hearing will be held to determine sanctions.