Login
iscover
A Perth property manager has received a two-year ban after maintaining that a property’s tenant was his primary client, which then resulted in a “complete dereliction of duty” to the property owner.
The State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) has banned Phillip Andrew Shanks and his agency, Sanz Property Solutions, from holding a real estate licence for two years and ordered them to pay $10,000 in penalties.
The tribunal found multiple breaches of trust account provisions and professional negligence during Shanks’ management of an Edgewater property between November 2016 and March 2022.
Central to the case was a $2,140 tenancy bond which was released back to Sanz Property Solutions’ trust account after a tenant’s departure in March 2022, before then being debited in full to Shanks’ personal bank account.
SAT investigations also found the agency failed to lodge the bond with the Bond Administrator within 14 days, incurring an additional penalty for Shanks.
The tribunal said Shanks’ mismanagement stemmed from a “fundamental misunderstanding” of his duties, where he wrongly maintained that his client was the tenant rather than the property’s owner all throughout the hearing.
During the hearing, Shanks admitted to transferring the bond to his personal account, and claimed the tenant approved its use for cleaning costs to pass a final inspection.
While Shanks was found to have made payments to himself for cleaning, investigations showed that no receipts were provided for any of the alleged expenses, and that the landlord later had to spend over $8,000 to restore the property to a habitable condition.
Investigations also revealed Shanks failed to meet basic professional obligations by refusing to provide the required documents to help the landlord make an insurance claim, and instead alleging without evidence that they were attempting to commit insurance fraud.
The tribunal found this accusation was likely fabricated by Shanks to cover up the fact that due to his mismanagement, no inspection reports or other documentation existed for the property.
The SAT said Shanks showed “very limited insight into his misconduct” and described his behaviour as being “indicative of incompetence”.
Commissioner for Consumer Protection, Trish Blake, said Shanks’ actions fell far short of the professional standard expected of licensed practitioners in Western Australia, adding that he took his landlord’s trust and “shattered it on multiple fronts”.
“His blatant, unlawful diversion of trust funds exposed a shocking ignorance of trust account regulations and a complete dereliction of duty to his landlord. The fact he still believes that the tenant was his primary client is bewildering,” Blake said.
“This gross incompetence, combined with his consistent failure to act with basic care and diligence for his client, is a grave betrayal that erodes public confidence in the entire real estate industry,” she concluded.
You are not authorised to post comments.
Comments will undergo moderation before they get published.