Property agent prosecuted for trust account breaches
A resident letting agent was permanently banned from holding a real estate licence and ordered to pay $4282 restitution in the Southport Magistrates Court this month for allegedly taking bond money from a trust account while working at student apartments in South Brisbane.
Gayle Sullivan was also handed a two month jail sentence, suspended for two years.
An Office of Fair Trading investigation found Ms Sullivan drew money from a trust account on five occasions in August and September 2011, when she was licensee in charge of Southbank Campus Apartments. She later deposited the funds, totalling $4282, into her personal bank accounts.
Ms Sullivan pleaded guilty to five counts of wrongfully converting trust account money, an offence under the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000.
Ms Sullivan said in an interview with OFT investigators she was entitled to the funds because she has refunded tenants’ bonds from her own pocket but could provide no evidence of this.
A conviction was recorded.
Ms Sullivan’s resident letting agent licence was cancelled on 14 November 2011 after she was previously convicted and fined $8000 for eight trust account offences.