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In a first for Western Australia, unauthorised trust account withdrawals have landed one former North Perth property manager an order for time behind bars.
Linda Margaret Ngapera, who Consumer Protection Western Australia reported had spent a decade at an unnamed North Perth real estate agency, has been convicted of unlawfully taking over $140,000 from trust accounts, pertaining to 141 unauthorised withdrawals from client trust funds between 2020 and 2022.
She pleaded guilty to all 141 charges in the Magistrates Court of Western Australia on 3 October and was subsequently sentenced to 13 months’ imprisonment, along with an order to pay court costs totalling $716.30. Her jail term has been suspended for two years by Magistrate Sullivan, who noted Ms Ngapera’s early guilty plea as well as the fact “the funds were not withdrawn for holidays or living a life of luxury”.
Magistrate Sullivan pointed out that the withdrawals were “applied to deal with difficult family circumstances”.
Consumer Protection commissioner Patricia Blake, who successfully led the action under the Real Estate and Business Agents (REBA) Act, insisted “this case sends a very strong message to industry and community that Consumer Protection will not hesitate to take action and the courts will not tolerate behaviour like unlawfully taking clients money from an agent’s trust account”.
“Ms Ngapera was in a position of trust, and she abused that trust,” Ms Blake said, adding “she also put the agent in a difficult financial position, as they had to repay the missing money to balance the trust account so that clients were not disadvantaged by her actions”.
Ms Blake did admit the circumstances surrounding Ms Ngapera’s use of the funds were sad. She insisted “this doesn’t excuse her actions and the courts agreed that this type of offending deserves a period of imprisonment”.
“I am pleased the courts have acted in this way, which will strongly deter others from considering this type of breach of trust going forward,” she added.
Ms Ngapera has voluntarily surrendered her sales representative registration.
Her case is a state first due to the fact that, prior to 1 January 2020, the penalty for this type of offence in Western Australia was a maximum fine of $3,000. Consumer Protection sought approval from the State Parliament to change this penalty to become a fine of $25,000 or two years’ imprisonment, given the significant impact this type of illegal activity has on the clients of an agency, as well as the agent themselves.
Moving forward, Ms Blake sent a stern message to anyone thinking of acting in a similar vein.
“Be warned, Consumer Protection will take action within the real estate and settlement industries and will seek imprisonment,” she concluded.
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