A B.C. real estate agent has lost his licence and been fined $120,000 for professional misconduct stemming from his own purchase of the very home his client had been targeting.
Alan Lanfang Hu and the B.C. Financial Services Authority reached a settlement agreement on June 10, wherein Hu relinquished his licence and agreed to pay the fine jointly with Alan Hu Personal Real Estate Corporation within six months.
Hu was successfully sued last January in B.C. Supreme Court by former client Pei Hua Zhong.
Hu was ordered to pay Zhong at least $626,000, representing the profits the Realtor earned by buying and selling a home Zhong intended to buy, initially with Hu’s assistance as an agent.
Justice Amy Francis described Hu’s conduct in her ruling as “deceptive and underhanded.”
Zhong hired Hu in December 2017 to sell his Surrey home and buy another home in the city, according to the agreement’s consent order.
Hu had been licensed as a trading representative since March 2010, and was working for managing broker Re/Max Colonial Pacific Realty Ltd. in White Rock at the time.
According to the court ruling, Zhong was unable to close on the new home purchase after not being able to sell his existing home in late December 2017.
Hu and his friend agreed the friend would purchase the house for $2.1 million after Zhong’s initial offer failed Dec. 27.
With Hu as his Realtor, Zhong placed a second offer on Jan. 1, 2018. That $2.05 million offer was not successful.
Hu’s friend, through another licensee, placed a successful $2.1 million offer Jan. 2, 2018.
The friend subsequently assigned the purchase to Hu and Hu’s spouse in March 2018.
How much Hu owes Zhong also depends on a dispute between Hu and the friend, according to the judge.
The regulator found Hu “failed to act honestly in providing real estate services to their buyer client” and “intentionally undermined his bid to purchase” the property.
Hu was found to have not disclosed his conflict of interest to his client. Furthermore, Hu provided false statements to the regulator concerning what happened between him, his client and his friend with respect to the transaction.
Per the court ruling, Zhong did not learn of Hu’s property purchase until 2022, after Hu sold the home in September 2021 for $3.35 million. Only then did Zhong seek remedies in court and file a complaint to the regulator.
Additionally, Zhong failed to inform the managing broker of the transaction, according to the consent order.
Hu and Alan Hu Personal Real Estate Corporation’s licences were both ordered cancelled.
