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Staff Reporter
An agent has been banned from operating for five years for actions that were described as ‘deliberate, calculated and carried out over a number of months’.
Real estate agent’s representative Zoran Rakocevic has been found guilty of offences, including creating false deposit receipts, by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), a statement from Consumer Affairs Victoria said.
According to Consumer Affairs Victoria, Mr Rakocevic created false receipts for the sale of four properties, stating that his employer, Compton and Green Real Estate Pty Ltd, had received a deposit on each, when it had not.
VCAT also upheld Consumer Affairs Victoria’s allegations that Mr Rakocevic made numerous false statements in contracts of sale in relation to six properties, incorrectly stating that C&G was the vendor’s agent when C&G was not.
Also, in three contracts of sale he stated that the vendor had agreed to sell the property described in the contract, when the vendor had not so agreed.
VCAT made orders, under the Estate Agents Act 1980, that Mr Rakocevic was not of good character and is not otherwise a fit and proper person to be an agent’s representative, and has been guilty of conduct as an agent’s representative which makes him unfit to be an agent’s representative.
The VCAT also stated that he contravened or failed to comply with the Estate Agents (Professional Conduct) Regulations 2008.
The tribunal ordered that Mr Rakocevic was ineligible to hold a licence or to be an agent’s representative for five years from 5 September 2012.
VCAT senior member Jacqueline Preuss found that Mr Rakocevic benefitted from his offences because, in three of the transactions involving false deposit receipts and contracts of sale, the company of which he was sole director and shareholder, Montex Corporation Pty Ltd, received $156,419.99.
Ms Preuss described Mr Rakocevic’s conduct as ‘deliberate, calculated and carried out over a number of months’.
“Mr Rakocevic’s behaviour was compounded by the fact that he exhibited an unwillingness to admit indisputable facts such as receipt by him of a financial benefit from the transactions. In my view, this indicated a disregard for his duty of honesty and candour,” she said.
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