Missing $1 million trust funds prompts Fair Trading investigation into Warilla agency Dougmal Harcourts
With $1.05 million unaccounted, NSW Fair Trading is investigating Warilla real estate agency Dougmal Harcourts after appointing Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu as an independent manager to the Illawarra region agency.
Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe says Fair Trading was notified of a significant deficiency in trust accounts by the licensee-in-charge last month.
The real estate agency side of the business is now closed.
The large real estate agency and strata management scheme operates across the southern Illawarra region managing 236 strata schemes, involving approximately 1,800 properties.
Stowe said says $200,000 is unaccounted for in the agency’s trust account, affecting seven groups of consumers in the process of buying a property.
“Approximately $850,000 out of a total strata sinking fund pool of $4.3 million administered by the agency is unaccounted for,” the Commissioner says.
“There should be no immediate impact on the day to day operations of the 236 schemes, however the loss of nearly 20% of the sinking fund pool will be addressed in the course of the investigation and by the manager.”
Stowe says claims to the Property Services Compensation Fund must be made in writing to the Fair Trading Commissioner within 12 months of a person becoming aware of the failure to account, or within two years of the date the failure to account took place, whichever period ends first.
“Fair Trading is contacting these consumers to advise them of the situation and how they may make a claim on the Property Services Compensation Fund,” he says.
