The QLD real estate agents who went rogue

Queensland’s pandemic property boom saw an explosion in the number of new real estate licence applications – and the number of complaints. See who was busted.

Queensland’s pandemic property boom saw an explosion in the number of new real estate licence applications – and the number of complaints.

New data from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) shows a whopping 7464 real estate applications were issued last year, with another 1825 approved between January 1 and March 31 this year.

That comes after 1373 were granted in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic was declared, while 2291 were issued in 2020, when the property market defied predictions of a crash and prices soared across the state.

There are over 45,000 active real estate licences in Queensland, according to the OFT.

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The number of real estate licence applications exploded during the boom. iSTOCK

An OFT spokeswoman said the significant rise in the number of applications for a real estate licence was likely due to the growth in the Queensland property market.

Brisbane has the most active licences, almost 21,000, followed by the Gold Coast (9347), Sunshine Coast (4879), Cairns (1657), Toowoomba (1490), Wide Baty (1307), Townsville (1211), Rockhampton (1205) and Mackay (936).

Between January 2020 and April 30 this year, 37 real estate licences were cancelled.

“The majority because a licensed corporation has become deregistered and can no longer trade (16) and bankruptcy (11),” the OFT spokeswoman said.

“Since January 2020 (up to 30 April 2022) there have been 532 complaints received by OFT relating to the sale of property.”

Licences can be cancelled for a variety of reasons and since January 2020, the OFT has taken action against a number of real estate agents across the state for everything from trust account fraud to dodgy investment schemes.

At least seven were named and shamed by the Office of Fair Trading.

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GAMBLED AWAY CLIENTS MONEY - CONVICTIONS RECORDED

Recently, a former Broadbeach real estate agent who used a client’s money to fund his gambling habit and cover his business expenses was convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment.

Anthony James Mauceri, previously the sole director and principal licensee of GCQ Property Sales and Rentals Pty Ltd, pleaded guilty to two counts of misappropriation of trust funds in February this year.

Aerial photo of the Broadbeach skyline. Picture: Brendan Radke

The court heard that between February and July 2019, the OFT received 18 complaints from property owners who had not received any rental income for nearly two months from properties that Mr Mauceri and his company were managing.

Another complainant was a seller of a property who did not receive the balance of $15,225 after a sale went through.

A tenant also lost money after their bond of $3400 was not lodged with the Residential Tenancies Authority.

Mr Mauceri made 63 unauthorised transfers from his company’s sales and rental trust accounts totalling $111,437 to pay employee wages, fund gambling and general business expenses.

He was sentenced to three years imprisonment last month, and will serve a minimum of seven months.

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TRUST MONEY PILFERED - CONVICTIONS RECORDED

In March, Janet Karen Guthrie, executive director of Three Sista’s Pty Ltd, a corporate letting agent and previous caretaker of the Plaza Palms Resort in Manunda, pleaded guilty to fraudulently withdrawing $10,000 from a trust account and using it for personal and business expenses, and failing to keep records of the transactions.

The Court heard that in March 2017, Ms Guthrie withdrew $10,000 in cash from Three Sista’s Pty Ltd’s trust account, and then used it for personal and business costs.

She informed the court that the money had been used to pay the Australian Tax Office for a tax debt.

Ms Guthrie was 6 months imprisonment wholly suspended for a period of two years and ordered to repay the $10,000. A conviction was ordered.

Three Sistas founders Janet Guthrie and Stuart Wright. Pictures: Jack Tran

Three Sista’s Pty Ltd was also convicted and fined $10,000 and was further ordered to repay $22,633. A conviction was also recorded.

Ms Guthrie’s ex-husband, Stuart James Wright, was jailed in 2020 and released on parole in March last year after he was found guilty of making 406 unauthorised transfers from the trust account totalling $292,393 and using that money to pay for his personal electricity bills, rental of kitchen equipment and repayments of a business loan.

He also used tenants bonds for his own purposes, and was ultimately sentenced to two years in prison and banned for life from working in the real estate industry.

Mr Guthrie was ordered to repay the money, but investigations revealed that never happened, with OFT revealing that sent a false bank statement to portray that repayment had occurred.

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CONSUMERS COMPENSATED - FINED

In September last year, Asset Realty Pty Ltd (previously Your Future Property Management) pleaded guilty to 18 charges after charging consumers for services they did not want, and which had not be authorised.

The court heard that the company was never properly appointed to manage one property but had deducted fees and expenses for managing the property for almost 10 years. They also charged two clients $66 a year for a debt management and collection service that they had expressly opted not to subscribe to.

Additionally, Asset Realty Pty Ltd charged two owners over $1,300 for the supply and installation of new smoke alarms at their rental properties without authorisation.

The corporation was also fined $80,000 in Western Australia in February 2020 after failing to lodge tenancy bonds on time and for keeping records that had false dates.

The company was ordered to pay more than $22,000 in fines and compensation, according to OFT.

In sentencing, Magistrate Louisa Pink took into account a number of factors including that these were strict liability offences and administrative failures, the company’s early guilty plea, and that the company had sold its rent roll.

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OPERATING UNDER FALSE PRETENCES - CONVICTION RECORDED

In July last year, Patrick Charles McLean was convicted after claiming to be the principal licensee of McLean Property Management Pty Ltd in Browns Plains.

The court heard that from September 30, 2015 to September 30, 2017, Mr McLean had been the principal licensee, but had entered into bankruptcy in June 2017, making him ineligible to hold a real estate agent licence or act as a principal licensee.

He was granted a real estate salesperson certificate in October 2018, but only on the condition he would not be involved in the management of the business.

Patrick McLean was convicted after claiming to be the principal licensee of McLean Property Management Pty Ltd.

But in January 2020, the OFT learned that Mr McLean was promoting himself as a principal licensee despite not having approval to be a licensee.

Further investigations in August 2020 found that the real estate agent was continuing to promote himself as the principal licensee.

The court also heard that in November 2020 Mr McLean was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended after six months for a period of three years.

That sentence came after he was convicted for 10 charges of dishonesty in relation to a claim he made for worker’s compensation, and his licence was cancelled.

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DODGY PROPERTY SCHEME - NO CONVICTION RECORDED

In May last year, Graham Scarrott and Key to Australia Pty Ltd was ordered to pay $1.5 million in compensation to 18 investors in Victoria and New Zealand who purchased lots in Pimpama on the Gold Coast.

The company, which traded as a real estate agent, financial advisor, auctioneer, and mortgage broker, marketed residential housing lots between May 2018 and June 2020.

Investors were that the lots had council approval to be subdivided into three, on which three separate townhouses could be built, with huge profits promised.

They were also told their deposits would be fully refunded if the investment scheme did not go ahead.

But the lots were never approved, and the deposits were never repaid, with Mr Scarrott and Key to Australia having used $1,712,244 of the consumers’ deposits for their own personal use and for business expenses respectively, expenses that were not related to Pimpama Village.

Key to Australia Pty Ltd, and Mr Scarrott, pleaded guilty to 18 breaches of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) for making false and misleading representations about land.

Both were ordered to pay $1,573,601.98 in compensation to the 18 affected consumers and were fined $250,000.

A conviction was not recorded.

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STOLEN TRUST MONEY - CONVICTION RECORDED

In April last year, former Noosa resident letting agent Emma Lillian Horton, a director of Wilton Resort Management Pty Ltd, pleaded guilty to dishonestly taking trust money for her own use.

Ms Horton, who managed the letting of holiday accommodation, dishonestly converted almost $300,000 from the corporation’s trust account in 2019.

The court heard that in late October 2019 another director of Wilton Resort Management noticed some irregular transactions from the trust account and appointed an accountant to audit the account.

Irregularities were identified in the audit and Wilton Resort Management Pty Ltd notified the OFT.

An OFT investigation found there were unauthorised transactions from the trust account totalling $294,450.

The money had been transferred from the trust account to the business bank account and Ms Horton’s personal account.

Ms Horton, charged conjointly with Wilton Resort Management Pty Ltd, was sentenced to six months imprisonment wholly suspended for two years and was disqualified from holding a real estate licence for two years.

A conviction was recorded against Ms Horton.

Wilton Resort Management Pty Ltd was fined $2000 but no conviction was recorded.

The money was reimbursed into the trust account and disbursed to the owners.

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RENT TRUST ACCOUNT REPAID - CONVICTION RECORDED

In Brisbane, Kevin Roy Tomlinson, who was then the principal licensee and sole director of Exposure Real Estate (QLD) Pty Ltd at Springfield Lakes, was found guilty in July 2020 to wrongfully transferring money from a rental trust account to his company’s expense account over a seven-month period.

Kevin Tomlinson.

The court heard that Mr Tomlinson made a series of withdrawals totalling over $100,000 from his company’s rental trust account and used the money for a variety of business expenses including loan and lease repayments and staff wages.

The company was fined $2500 and Mr Tomlinson was ordered to serve four months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for two years.

In sentencing, Magistrate Virginia Sturgess commented on the seriousness of the offending and abuse of the agent’s position of trust.

She also took into account that the agent had partially repaid the money before the involvement of the OFT and that the remainder of the money had been repaid prior to being charged.