Real estate agent has licence stripped

A real estate agent who forged clients' signatures, and then tried laughing it off as "just fooling around in the office", has had his licence stripped.

Kevin Stevenson has also been ordered to pay $1,683 in compensation after the Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal found he was guilty of "disgraceful conduct".

He was working for Professionals (MacPherson Realty Ltd) in Invercargill, when colleague Tracy Beer wanted to sell her marital home in 2011.

Company policy meant she couldn't sell her own home, so she enlisted Stevenson as the selling agent.

But company bosses became aware of allegations that Stevenson had forced the signature and initials of Tracy and her husband Nathan Beer on a commission rate form and a disclosure by agent form.

They enlisted a forensic document examiner who confirmed they had not been signed by Mr and Mrs Beer.

Stevenson's contract was torn up and a report of "suspected misconduct" was sent to the Real Estate Agents Authority.

An investigator visited Stevenson and questioned him over evidence the Beers' signatures had been falsified.

"Yeah it was just fooling around in the office yeah," he replied.

"[It] wasn't even supposed to go into the files.... We were just having a bit of fun yeah."

The estate agents watchdog accused him of three misconduct charges, including forgery, seriously incompetent or negligent real estate agency work relating to the sale of the Beers' property, and failing to follow proper guidelines.

Stevenson argued that he had provided an "exceptional service" to the Beers, saying that the two falsified documents were of no advantage to him.

He suggested that the complaint was only made against him because the potential buyer had not bought the house, and had instead bought another property.

But the tribunal had "no difficulty" in concluding the forgery - even just for the sake of completing paperwork and not for any monetary gain - did amount to "disgraceful conduct".

"Agents need to be seen to be completely compliant with the law in order to enjoy the benefits of registration and licensing as agents".

In a decision out today, the tribunal cancelled Stevenson's real estate agents licence and ordered him to pay the Real Estate Agents Authority $1683.73 in compensation for additional legal costs.

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