Kelowna property manager fined $5,000 for letting tenants sublet

A Kelowna rental property manager has been fined $5,000 after he allowed tenants to sublet their home.

According to a March 26 BC Financial Services Authority decision, property manager Dustin Linsdell failed to act with “reasonable care and skill” when managing a property in Vernon.

The decision said Linsdell told the owner he had two prospective tenants who were a young professional couple but never verified the information.

“Further, you told the two tenants on the lease that you would make one of them the main leaseholder and keep the others as occupants but failed to amend the lease,” the regulator said in the decision. “Additionally, you allowed the tenants to sublet the property without the owner’s permission. You failed to advise the owner that the two tenants on the lease had sublet to a third individual and failed to obtain the owner’s written permission as required by the Residential Tenancy Agreement.”

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The decision said allowing the tenants to sublet may have voided the owner’s insurance policy which didn’t allow for three unrelated individuals to live at the property.

The regulator said this was Linsdell’s first contravention and he was issued a $5,000 fine.

No other information is given in the decision.