A former estate agent has been fined $3000 and reprimanded by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) for failing to arrange trust account audits.
Russell Andrew Shannon was the officer in effective control of deregistered company Remnet Property Pty Ltd which had a history of late lodgement of trust account audits and failure to lodge audits with Consumer Affairs Victoria.
The Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria took disciplinary proceedings to VCAT after Mr Shannon failed to rectify his outstanding audits despite receiving verbal and written warnings from Consumer Affairs Victoria inspectors.
The company was deregistered in November 2008 for failure to lodge records and fees. Despite being informed of this, Mr Shannon continued to operate under company name until June 2009 when the remaining rental agency business was sold.
Audits for 2006 to 2008 remain outstanding as well as final audit.
Mr Shannon, whose agents licence was cancelled by the Business Licensing Authority in September last year for an unrelated matter, was reprimanded by VCAT. The Tribunal ordered him to comply with the Act by arranging for audits of Remnet Property Pty Ltd’s trust accounts for 2006 to 2008 to be completed and delivered to Consumer Affairs Victoria by 3 September 2011.
On 26 May 2011, VCAT also ordered Mr Shannon to arrange for a final audit of Remnet Property Pty’s trust accounts to be completed and delivered to Consumer Affairs Victoria by 3 September 2011.
The Tribunal fined Mr Shannon $3000, to be paid to the Estate Agents Guarantee Fund by 3 September 2011.