Harcourts Prestige Real Estate and director fined for code of conduct violations

A southern suburbs real estate agency and its director have been fined a total of $10,000 by the State Administrative Tribunal after they recommended clients use a repairs and maintenance company she owned in order to pocket a large portion of the invoice. Between May 2019 and April 2021, five clients of Harcourts Prestige Real Estate in Canning Vale used Prestige Maintenance Perth for repairs and maintenance on their properties. Agency director Anna-Marie Thornton — who was also the sole director of the maintenance company — used third-party contractors to perform the repair work and then marked up invoices by between 17 and 70 per cent before presenting them to the property owners. The West Australian understands that the five properties involved were located in Treeby, Piara Waters, Gosnells, Harrisdale and Wattle Grove. Harcourts Prestige Real Estate was reprimanded and fined $6000 for breaching the Real Estate and Business Agents Act and the code of conduct. Ms Thornton was also reprimanded and fined $4000 for failing to exercise due care, diligence and skill in her supervision of the agency. She did not respond to questions but Consumer Protection commissioner Trish Blake said the code of conduct required real estate agents to always act in good faith and in the best interests of their clients. “Agents need to be mindful of their obligations under the code of conduct and make certain the interests of their clients come first at all times,” she said. “Clients need to receive value for money from any service provider engaged on their behalf. “In this case, the agents’ use of a company in which Ms Thornton was involved did not provide value for money as Prestige Maintenance did not do anything that the agent could not do itself.” Prestige Maintenance Perth has ceased trading.