A former NSW property manager who diverted more than $180,000 from rental trust accounts and bonds has been banned for a decade after the regulator found the misconduct was deliberate and ongoing.
Sarah-Jane Watts has been disqualified from the industry for 10 years for stealing more than $180,000 from trust accounts and rental bonds.
The disciplinary action followed criminal proceedings against the former property manager at Ewing Real Estate in Gunnedah in May.
In Gunnedah Local Court, Watts pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining more than $151,000 from the agency’s rental trust account and approximately $35,400 in rental bonds.
NSW Fair Trading found that Watts diverted funds from the agency’s rental trust account through 162 fraudulent transactions, as well as 38 bond withdrawals.
The court heard she redirected the money into six personal bank accounts she controlled between 2 March 2022 and 15 July 2024, with the funds spent on personal expenses, including food, hospitality, hairdressing, and holidays.
NSW Fair Trading found Watts’s conduct was deliberate, posed a significant risk to consumers and was not an isolated incident, prompting the regulator to move to disqualify her from the industry for 10 years.
NSW Fair Trading commissioner Natasha Mann said that while a majority of property managers did the right thing, Watts’s conduct posed a high risk to the integrity of the real estate industry.
“By removing this individual from the industry, we are helping protect consumers and maintain the integrity of the property services sector.”
“People who steal from landlords, tenants or clients should not be working in the property industry,” Mann said.
Earlier this year, Watts was ordered to serve a 12-month sentence in the community and will be subject to strict supervision by Community Corrections.
Watts was also ordered to pay $35,399.23 in compensation to the Rental Bond Board, $100,000 to Ewing Real Estate, which had compensated its clients, and $750 in professional costs.
The $100,000 payment was the maximum available to be ordered in the local court.
The watchdog said Watts’s disciplinary action took immediate effect, with details of the decisions to be published on the NSW government’s public registers, including Verify NSW and the Name and Shame Register.
Watts has the right to seek a review of the disciplinary decisions under the relevant review provisions of NSW law.
NSW Fair Trading said it would continue targeting real estate professionals who failed to meet their obligations and undermined consumer confidence in the sector.
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?Make Real Estate Business a preferred news source on Google.
