$30,000 fine for property finder “sets a clear precedent”

Manch said the level of fine handed out by the court was "quite a significant signal that if you're going to be doing this kind of stuff then you should be licensed."

Forster and her company Home Buyers were charged by the REAA of conducting real estate work without a license, with Judge Bruce Davidson saying in his sentencing notes that it was "abundantly clear" Forster and Home Buyers "were involved in a fairly comprehensive real estate agency service."

Forster told Landlords she was unwilling to comment too much on the case as her lawyers were still examining the written judgement.

"My lawyers are going through that at the moment and we're going to have a talk about whether we will or won't [appeal], that's why I'm saying I can't really comment."

One property finder Landlords spoke to - who wished to remain anonymous - was more forthcoming, especially on the size of the fine.

"Put it this way, the REAA has just charged two real estate agents who had a physical and verbal fight in front of a client $600 each, so people who are actually real estate agents and behave that unprofessionally, get a $600 hand slap."

They also believed the judgement would mark the start of an escalation in REAA activity against property finders.

"That's always been their intention. I imagine the REAA will want to ramp it up now and have a go at somebody else. I just think the fact they've charged her $30,000 - it's absolutely not fair."

"There will be more cases, no doubt, because whenever you've got a piece of law there'll be people looking for ways round it, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for not very good reasons," he said.

"People will be out there doing business and organising themselves in various ways, and if we get complaints we'll look at them and some will end up in court and some won't."

Comments from our readers

On 13 August 2011 at 1:23 pm coaster09 said:

Typical. Real Estate industry continues to treat other property professionals with contempt. Anyone they see as a threat they try to squash. If they were all doing a fantastic job, they would likely make property finders redundant, but instead they just try to eliminate through heavy handed tactics.

On 16 August 2011 at 1:46 pm Tony said:

All the moans from property finders are easily resolved.Get an approved Real Estate licence.Surely it is kindergarten logic.

On 16 August 2011 at 2:32 pm Richard Evans said:

Well coaster09 assumes real estate agents have control over the REAA, and that is not true, in fact quite the reverse.
The REAA is VERY independant, so property finders need to deal with REAA and not real estate Agents
I am no fan of Real estate agents but don't accuse them of trying to protect their patch.

$30,000 fine for property finder “sets a clear precedent”

Property finder Dorien Forster has been fined $30,000 for acting without a license in a case Real Estate Agents Authority (REAA) chief Keith Manch said “sets a clear precedent on the role of property finders.”

Friday, August 12th 2011, 2:55PM 3 Comments

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