A property agent in charge of a Woodridge unit complex has been fined $12,000 and banned from holding a real estate licence for five years in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court for breaches relating to the management of a trust account.
Kate Louise Malone, a resident letting agent who managed the Greenwood Heights unit complex in Woodridge, pleaded guilty to misrepresenting the amount of rent collected to unit owners and taking money from the trust account for her own use. Ms Malone also pleaded guilty to using trust money to benefit a family member who was a tenant at Greenwood Heights.
The Office of Fair Trading received a complaint from a Greenwood Heights unit owner about Ms Malone not paying him the correct amount of rent collected from his tenants. The ensuing investigation revealed Ms Malone had failed to correctly account for $1860.
The court heard Ms Malone also converted $6700 from the trust account for her own use and $1200 for the use of a family member, in breach of the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000.
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