B.C. real estate regulator clamps down on activities of `Wolf of Burrard St'

B.C.'s real estate regulator has issued what it described as an urgent order against a former property manager, Colton Roberts. Roberts uses the Instagram name “Wolf of Burrard St,” and the regulator alleges he was taking security deposits from prospective renters for properties he purported to manage.

The superintendent of real estate's order also named two companies it said were associated with Roberts: Renters Management Inc. and Bluhome Properties.

They are all “to cease providing, including offering to provide, directly or indirectly, real estate services, including rental property management services in B.C., effective immediately.”

The order said “the length of time that would be required to complete an investigation or hold a hearing, or both, would be detrimental to the public interest.”

And they “would likely result in further non-compliance,” given the potential scope of Roberts' activities based on the number of complaints about his unlicensed services, several companies, and “pattern of collecting deposits for properties to which he has no right.”

The superintendent also ordered Roberts to provide a full list of tenants and landlords to whom he or the companies have provided real estate services.

Reached by phone, Roberts said the description of this being an urgent order of public interest “seems quite overblown in my opinion. I haven't worked in real estate for the last six months,” since he was contacted by the superintendent in August 2020.

The order, issued Friday, includes details about five complaints.

They started in May 2020, but one received by the superintendent in October 2020 was related to a previous complaint that had been filed about Roberts in July 2018.

Roberts was licensed to provide rental property management services from April 2018 to February 2019 and as a real estate agent from December 2018 to February 2019, according to the order, which added his licence was “surrendered by his managing broker.”

Two complaints, the order alleges, involved security deposits taken after the signing of longterm leases where the property owners said their properties were not on the market.

One complaint involved charges filed with the Vancouver Police Department and a civil lawsuit. In the other, Roberts accepted $1,850 as a security deposit for a three-bedroom apartment, the order alleges. The owner told the superintendent he had never rented out his property and lived there himself, the order alleges.

Another complaint, the order alleges, involved Roberts trying to keep a deposit of more than $9,000 for the short-term rental of a penthouse he listed on Airbnb. The penthouse owner told the superintendent she was unaware Roberts had advertised her unit and obtained a security deposit.

Roberts told Postmedia he has paid back the money involved in the listed complaints. He said he is switching out of real estate and might start a finance investment blog. He explained how he came up with the wolf moniker years ago. He was working for a firm with a Burrard Street address.

“And I like the movie,” Wolf of Wall Street. It's the 2013 hit about a stockbroker who funds his high life by defrauding investors.