An unhappy tenant led to a realtor getting disciplined by the Real Estate Council of B.C.

The regulator body has fined Cheryl Chih Yu Kang and ordered her, at her own expense, to complete a remedial course on real estate trading services.

Kang’s offence was that she acted as an unlicensed rental agent for the overseas owner of the West Vancouver property.

She also violated the Real Estate Services Act by providing services outside her brokerage, the Sutton Group-West Coast Realty.

Kang and a friend were paid by the landlord to manage the property. Kang claimed that the property owner is a personal friend.

The landlord bought the Millsteam Road home in 2010.

Kang probably wouldn’t have been discovered  as an unlicensed rental agent if the tenant was satisfied with her management of the property.

The tenant has been renting the property for more than two years when she expressed safety concerns about a tree located at a neighbour’s home.

Kang responded by email, saying the tree is outside the landlord’s control, and that the neighbour has no obligation to cut it.

“If you really have the safety concern then you may seek for other houses with not many trees around and I will be willing to negotiating (sic) to terminate the current lease for you,” Kang wrote.

The complainant followed up, and added other concerns such as the safety of the sink garburator.

The complainant told Kang in an email: “I am very surprised by your lack of professionalism and the way you handle customer issues.”

The tenant also noted that she thinks Kang wants her to “evacuate the rental property before the contract expires”.

“I would reserve the right to contact the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, and Real Estate Council of BC, advising them about your misconduct in dealing with the above issues as a realtor who rented me the property,” the complainant wrote.

That wasn’t the end of it.

The tenant later raised concerns about replacing a toilet seat.

“Please provide us with the landlord’s information as we would like to send her an email out of courtesy before we take this to the next level,” the tenant wrote in an email to Kang.

Noble & Associates, a licensed property management firm, subsequently took over the rental management for the property.

The firm was introduced to the landlord by Kang.

Kang initially denied to council investigators that she provided real estate services to the landlord.

The realtor was ordered to pay a discipline fee of $7,500, and enforcement costs of $1,500.