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The Queensland government has said agents will come under increased scrutiny after yet another real estate agent was banned from the profession for misleading clients.
Philip Terrance Dodds, of Surfers Paradise, was permanently disqualified from holding a licence after he was found guilty of breaching 26 real estate laws, including making unauthorised withdrawals and failure to pay tenants' bonds to the Residential Tenancies Authority, according to a report in The Courier Mail.
Fair Trading minister Peter Lawlor said Mr Dodds had a history of misleading clients.
"In making its decision to permanently ban him, the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal declared that Mr Dodds had a 'head in the sand attitude of blaming everybody but himself'," Mr Lawlor said.
Five Queensland agents have received life bans over the past two years.
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland acting chief executive officer Ian Murray told Real Estate Business that despite the recent spate of agents receiving life bans, the vast majority continued to act with integrity and professionalism.
“The number of complaints against Queensland real estate professionals is small when you consider there are more than 15,000 people working in the industry, about 400,000 rental properties, and about 150,000 real estate sales each year,” Mr Murray said.
“The REIQ takes consumer protection very seriously and fully supports appropriate action for breaches of the high level trust involved in real estate transactions.”
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