The Applicant filed an Application in QCAT seeking to review 4 decisions of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), being 4 directions under s 42 of the Agents Financial Administration Act 2014 (Qld) to freeze the Applicant’s real estate agency’s trust accounts and allow a receiver to operate them. The directions were issued on the basis that the OFT had a suspicion that trust account monies had been misapplied. The Tribunal determined that there were reasonable grounds for a belief that the Applicant had misapplied trust monies and that the 4 decisions made by the OFT were the correct and preferable decisions.
The Applicant also applied to the Tribunal to transfer the judicial review of the OFT’s decision to appointment a receiver to the Supreme Court. The Tribunal determined it was not appropriate to do so, as the Applicant had already brought judicial review proceedings in the Supreme Court which had been discontinued.
The Tribunal confirmed the Respondent’s decisions.
Florence Chen appeared for the Office of Fair Trading, instructed by Crown Law.
The judgment is published here.