A Sydney real estate agent has been struck from the industry after pocketing more than $165,000 in Covid-19 rental relief payments.
Fairfield real estate agent Nasser Kalache, who worked for RW Partners, was refused his application for a Class 2 Real Estate License by the Commissioner for Fair Trading after being deemed not a “fit and proper person”.
Mr Kalache held a certificate of registration from September 2021 to September 2025, allowing him to work under supervision; however, last year, he applied for a class 2 license to act independently.
His license was refused after it was revealed Mr Kalache had been convicted in August 2023 of pocketing $166,500 in fraudulent Covid-19 rent relief claims, the Tribunal said.
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After the application was refused, Mr Kalache took the matter to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal for a review.
The tribunal heard how, between 2021 and 2023, rent-relief payments were paid to landlords through managing real estate agents, with Mr Kalache transferring the funds into his own bank account.
He was sentenced to an Intensive Correction Order penalty of 10 months and required to undertake mental health treatment.
The tribunal also heard how Mr Kalache was convicted in 2022 for owning a home used to grow cannabis, in which he was given a two-year community correction order.
Mr Kalache told the tribunal that he had since shown “insight into his past conduct” and that he had “demonstrated genuine rehabilitation”.
He urged the tribunal to “consider his present fitness” and not to “punish him” for his past crimes.
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The Commissioner for Fair Trading argued to the tribunal that Mr Kalache should not hold a license as the offences had occurred “in connection with his employment in the real estate sector.”
“The offences involve significant breaches of trust,” the Commissioner for Fair Trading argued.
In his decision handed down on Wednesday, Tribunal Senior Member Stephen Montgomery affirmed the decision by the Commissioner to refuse the license.
“The conduct that occurred while the Applicant was working in the real estate industry involved serious failures of judgment,” Mr Montgomery said in his decision.
“This conduct goes to the core attributes of honesty, integrity, and trustworthiness that are required of licensees.”
Mr Montgomery said not enough time had elapsed since the convictions and that Mr Kalache needed to establish a “sustained period” of “integrity and compliance”.
“Should further time elapse and the Applicant can show evidence of sustained reform, a different outcome may result if he reapplies in the future,” Mr Montgomery said.
Mr Kalache has been contacted for comment.
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