With Commissioner for Consumer Protection, Lanie Chopping
Perth’s rental prices have flat-lined for almost three years, but there are strong indications the market could be resuscitated in 2020.
According to REIWA, the number of rental listings fell nine per cent in the last three months of 2019 – helping to nudge down the vacancy rate to 2.4 per cent and resulting in increased competition among tenants to secure a property.
UPDATE 20/04/2021: After Consumer Protection reported on the outcome of this case on 27 February 2020, Christina Cramphorn successfully applied for the judgement to be set aside on the basis that she was not present when the case was heard by the Rockingham Magistrates Court. A re-trial was held on 25 March 2021 and Ms Cramphorn again failed to attend and Magistrate Andretich accepted that she had failed to respond to communications from Consumer Protection.
Failing to lodge bonds on time and inaccurate record-keeping has resulted in a Karratha real estate agent being ordered to pay $24,069 in fines and costs by the Perth Magistrates Court.
Peard Real Estate Karratha collected bonds from six tenants in the Karratha region between September 2017 and January 2018, but failed to lodge them within 14 days as required by the Residential Tenancies Act. The agent was also convicted of five charges of inaccurate trust records relating to the dates of when the bonds were lodged.
With Commissioner for Consumer Protection Lanie Chopping
Are you looking to buy white goods, electrical items or a new car in the near future? Chances are you’ll be offered an extended warranty by the salesperson but you need to think twice before saying “yes” because you could be wasting your money.
A cement business owner has been fined $4,500 by the Busselton Magistrates Court and ordered to pay $3,000 in compensation to three of his clients after pleading guilty to accepting deposit payments but failing to deliver the goods or services.
Jamie Douglas Bishop of Busselton was trading as Busselton Cement Products when the breaches of the Australian Consumer Law occurred in 2016 and 2017. The court also ordered Mr Bishop to pay the prosecution’s costs of $2,152.20.
A Queensland-based property management company was fined $80,000 by the Mandurah Magistrates Court on 11 February 2020 for failing to lodge tenancy bonds on time and for keeping records that contained false dates.
Western Australians were tricked out of more than $13.6 million by scammers in 2019, up 17 per cent from the previous year, according to figures released by WA ScamNet.
Victim numbers also increased ten per cent with 705 people reporting losses in 2019.
There was a surge in losses to investment scams, which again topped the list of categories in 2019. Romance scams and hacking scams continued to make the list, while online shopping and classified scams also resulted in people being duped.
A home renovations tradie with a history of ripping off WA consumers has been fined $11,000 by the Perth Magistrates Court, ordered to pay $2,500 in compensation to one consumer as well as legal costs of $1,085.50, for breaking the Australian Consumer Law.
FuelWatch reports a disruption to the usual weekly petrol price cycle in Perth.
For the past five years, the weekly cycle has been consistent, with most fuel outlets in the Perth metropolitan area hiking their regular unleaded petrol (ULP) prices every Tuesday by about 20 cents per litre (cpl) on average. Prior to June 2015, the cycle involved prices being increased on a Thursday.
A luxury car consignment company and its Director have been permanently banned by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) from ever holding a motor vehicle dealers’ licence in WA after the car yard closed down owing many of its clients substantial amounts of money.
