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Kamloops woman has bank accounts frozen by real estate authorities

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A battle between a Kamloops woman and real estate authorities over her status as a property manager has resulted in her bank accounts being frozen.

Kathy Alaina Bakker was ordered by the B.C. Financial Services Authority in February to stop her activities that including collecting rents.

She not only refused to stop but also “continuously failed to provide B.C. Financial Services Authority with any information regarding her rental property management activities, despite having been provided ample opportunity to do so,” the ruling written April 6 but issued April 19, reads.

Bakker was a property manager at one time but went off on her own in December 2019.

She initially said she was providing cleaning and repair services but the Financial Services Authority disagreed and issued an “urgent” order on Feb. 10, 2022 for her to stop.

READ MORE: Kamloops woman banned from property management for how her business adapted to COVID

Since then she has continued to have rent cheques sent to her email address and has operated through a company called GFI Properties.

She posted a notice in one building saying she was under investigation and that she would be closing GFI Properties in the coming weeks but that changed nothing and rent would still go to the same account, meaning through her.

She also posted that she was an “independent caretaker.” The Finance Authority saw that as a possible attempt to qualify for an exemption from needing to be licenced. It said that still didn’t work.

The report also pointed out that, after and iNFOnews.ca story on the issue, another landlord contacted them saying she had provided services to them.

READ MORE: Kamloops woman managing properties without a license got snitched on by former employer

Those included arranging showings for new tenants, placing tenants in units and collecting deposits from them, which the Finance Authority says constitute real estate services.

"It is apparent that the Feb. 10, 2022 urgent order has been ineffective in bringing Bakker into compliance,” the ruling states. “Bakker’s continued provision of real estate services without a licence has a negative effect on the integrity of the regulatory regime and puts the public at risk.”

READ MORE: Why you can’t manage rentals in B.C. without a license

As a result, accounts “currently held on deposit by and for Kathy Alaina Bakker doing business as ‘GFI Properties’” are frozen and she is prohibited from withdrawing any funds from those accounts.

The order will stay in place until a new order is issued by the Superintendent of Real Estate or a court.


To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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