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The Supreme Court has upheld a conviction against a real estate agent over offences related to the sale of a dying woman’s Adelaide property in 2013.
Last year, Nabil Chehade and NRC Property Group were convicted and fined $3,600 each for breaching real estate laws over the sale.
The business was also fined an additional $3,600 for allowing its employee to act as a sales representative without a licence, bringing the total penalty to $10,800.
Mr Chehade was engaged to sell a four-bedroom Para Hills home on behalf of its owner, but the real estate agent did not appropriately disclose that the property’s buyers were his sister and brother-in-law.
In the Elizabeth Magistrates Court last year, he was fined and convicted for obtaining a beneficial interest in the property he was engaged to sell.
Mr Chehade appealed against his conviction to the Supreme Court, arguing the Magistrate should have exercised his discretion to not record a conviction and had failed to take into account the impact of a conviction on his ability to obtain finance.
The Supreme Court this week upheld the conviction.
Acting Commissioner for Consumer Affairs Robert Templeton said the court’s decision should send a strong message to real estate agents that they need to be mindful of their legal responsibilities.
“It’s important to note this case isn’t about the property’s eventual sale price – we’ll never know if the price would’ve been higher or lower if the property had been sold to someone else,” he said.
“It does highlight just how seriously we take the legal responsibilities of real estate agents, which is why our laws are set up to ensure transactions of this nature are kept at arm’s length to protect consumers.
“These laws are designed to ensure agents act in the vendor’s best interests, and any actions that breach this responsibility have the potential to undermine confidence in the industry as a whole.”
The licence for Mr Chehade’s business has now lapsed, and his real estate agent’s licence has also been cancelled.
[Related: Court finds agent guilty of conflict of interest]
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