The property seller complained to the REAA after the new buyers gained access to the property, showing tenants through before the sale was final. Photo / Chris Loufte
The property seller complained to the REAA after the new buyers gained access to the property, showing tenants through before the sale was final. Photo / Chris Loufte
A real estate agent who accidentally gave a new home buyer access to a property before the sale was finalised has been reprimanded and ordered to apologise.
Shanshan (Shirley) Sun, a Barfoot & Thompson real estate agent, accidentally left the keys to a property on the buyer's kitchen table while meeting them for a tour of the house prior to the sale.
They took possession of the keys after Sun left, distracted, to attend to a family matter.
On February 24, 2016 the property was sold by auction and the settlement date was March 29.
But when the seller went to her house on March 26, she took exception to finding the mother of the buyer in the house - already showing prospective tenants through.
The seller complained to the Real Estate Agents Authority (REAA), who found Sun breached rules relating to skill and care around client care, though conceded she did breach those rules accidentally.
Sun spoke to the Herald briefly while holding an open home.
Shirley Sun said she had felt upset about the whole saga. photo/ Barfoot and Thompson
She said the buyer hadn't been ready to do the pre-purchase inspection as planned when she arrived, leading to some confusion which ultimately led to her making the mistake.
"Of course I apologised," she said, adding that she had been quite upset by the whole saga.
She was ordered to apologise in April this year.
The seller also complained of a tree being cut down on the property and the photos the buyer had paid for to advertise the house's sale being used without her permission by the buyers to advertise it for rent.
The REAA said in the internet age it was hard to stop people from taking photos they saw online and reusing them without permission and this was not the fault of real estate agents.
Likewise they decided the buyer had acted of his own accord when cutting the tree and no real estate agents were involved in the decision.
During the REAA's investigation, Sun admitted that she had the key to the property for the purpose of taking the buyer on a pre-purchase inspection, which they were entitled to make under the agreement for sale and purchase.
While waiting for one of the buyers to arrive she became distracted and later left to attend to a family matter.
She admitted to inadvertently leaving the keys on the purchaser's kitchen table, and denied doing so deliberately.
The buyer backed up Sun's version of events, adding he didn't think he had done anything wrong as there were only a couple of days to go prior to settlement.
He agreed the property had been advertised for rental and said he cut the trees on the property as he felt they were big and dangerous.
