A former West Australian real estate agent has been fined for “multiple unauthorised withdrawals from his agency’s trust account”, as flagged by Consumer Protection.
Mohammad Samir Merzaie, the director of Swift SM, a Malaga agency trading as Challenge Real Estate, made unauthorised withdrawals on at least six occasions between December 2019 and April 2020, according to Western Australia’s Consumer Protection agency.
Mr Merzaie was the sole signatory to the agency’s trust account at the time of the offending.
In Joondalup Magistrates Court, Mr Merzaie was fined $2,300. The company was fined $4,000 for breaches of the Real Estate and Business Agents Act. Both were ordered to pay costs of $319 each.
Challenge Real Estate ceased operations in September 2020.
In handing down the penalties, Magistrate Harries called the unauthorised withdrawals “a breach of trust”, acknowledging that while there were no financial losses caused by the actions of Mr Merzaie, “they had the potential to have significant impact”.
It’s a sentiment with which commissioner for consumer protection Trish Blake agreed, noting that such illegal actions “put the money of home buyers and sellers at serious risk”.
She stated: “Providing safeguards and protections are the main reasons for having laws that strictly control the transfer and use of funds belonging to people involved in a real estate transaction.
“For a licensed real estate agent or their staff to use trust account funds for other purposes is not only illegal, but a betrayal that undermines the integrity of the system and confidence in the industry.
“That’s why there are laws that control the handling of funds during a real estate sales process, and all agents need to strictly adhere to those laws, without exception, otherwise face the consequences.”
