Former Ray White agent David Sharma under investigation by the Real Estate Authority - clients of one of his companies may be owed thousands

unbelievable a dodgy RE, they are normally pillars of our society whom proform a service out of duty.

why is every day we hear about these dodgy people in this line of work ripping people off

It's good that RE trade is going through a rough phase with sales not doing so well, such dodgy agents are coming out in open.
This flush/cleaning is good for our society & economy

...if I were one of his clients I'd be trolling back through all the repairs and maintenance invoiced and the 'missed' rents to boot! There will be more to it.

I think the market is saturated with Property Managers. More are going to go to the wall as Landlords take over the task in an effort to cut costs. Tapped out tenants, ongoing healthy homes compliance costs, increased insurance premiums and the absence of capital gains will see to it.

Septic individuals such as Sharma only serve to hasten the inevitable shakeout in this sector.

The man in question was a Property Manager rather than a real estate agent that was selling property.
If a property owner was having to chase up rental payments from their property Manager, then this is a sign of either incompetence or fraud!

Why would you put up,with this when you are paying something to deliver a professional service!
We manage all of our properties ourselves as we can do it far more successfully than an outside management company.

The management company’s get paid but they have no financial interest in the properties and therefore don’t have the same best interests as the true owners have.

Have never been that impressed by management company’s anyway as they are really only part time as they tend to employ staff that only want to work between 9 and 5.

They are often hard to contact especially at holiday times and often do not return our calls when we are chasing references from their tenants.

Managing your own properties is not for everyone but if you are full time then a hands on approach toeverything certainly pays off

It amazes me how Kiwis in general can be so blase when it comes to protecting their business interests. If I was employing someone to professionally manage my affairs, especially when I was doing so to free up my time and alleviate avoidable stress, at the first whiff of anything untoward I would be on the case and in their face. Surely!

Sharma ran out of Karma

As a retired independent property manager I had to put up with the REA making repeated snide remarks about independents. They did this via the media and other ways. They used to say that owners were at risk of being ripped off like one of their own has done. Obviously regardless of being REA or independent there will always be a small minority who will act poorly. Saying the opposition are all crooks is the first sign for thinking people to start asking questions. Lets hope the REA stops throwing mud.

A little bit of me thinks this whole property carry on has a bit of an 80’s share market mania to it.
Shonky companies, shonky practises and rather questionable behaviour ending up before the courts.
I think the rock star may have well over-indulged.
Do be careful!

While I’m at it – again, oxymoron time:
Real Estate Professional.
Real Estate Ethics.
Do be careful!

A very interesting comment in here "A spokesperson for the Real Estate Authority, which is responsible for regulating and licensing the real estate industry, said it did not have jurisdiction over property managers . . "

So why would anyone do business with a Property Management arm of a Real Estate company ? No protection what so ever !! Lets hope those owners that have been ripped off do better 'due diligence' when finding a repalcement, and go to someone that has memebership of a proper regulatory organisation that has good processes incuding one for complaints that has teeth !

I am one of the property owners affected by the actions of Ray White Henderson. Villa Man - There are no "proper regulatory organisations". The REA is it. A property manager is not required to be a LREA and so is not subject to the disciplinary processes of the REA. For that to happen would require changes in legislation by govt. I did carry out "due diligence" before entrusting Ray White to manage my property. I even knew David Sharma, I am a tradesperson and he was a client of mine several years ago. Back then, he paid his bills, he seemed honest and reliable with the dealings I had with him. I researched all the reputable property management companies and Ray White stood out as the leading trusted professionals in the area where my property is located. After researching, and adding to that the fact that I know the guy, for me they were the obvious choice.
There is an important fact left out of this article. This is that Ray white Henderson property management have failed to lodge the bond of several tenants, mine included. When you lodge a bond with tenancy services, the tenant and the landlord are sent a bond lodgement acknowledgement from tenancy services. Because the property manager is acting as the landlord, it is him or her that receives it, not the property owner. Most tenants are unaware that they are supposed to receive this acknowledgement so they and myself included were not aware that he had stolen this money until very recently. So Mr David Dayanand Sharma trading as Ray White Henderson, has not only ripped off a large number of landlords but tenants also. This makes his actions even more morally repugnant.
I commissioned Ray White to manage my property in order to lower my risk of losses and ensure compliance with tenancy laws, not to be the cause of my losses and non compliance. Ray White make me sick. Ray White head office were still trying to distance themselves from these issues just last week, until people finally approached the media about this shambles. They are liars. I will never deal with Ray White again and I would advise others to steer well clear of them also.

Badlad - I did get right in his face at the first whiff of trouble. Its taken until now to track the little prick down and sort out what the hell is going on. At Auckland rent prices it doesn't take long for the loss incurred to rise to a significant sum of money and there were very crafty and deceptive excuses and explanations being outputted by various Ray White agents. Also, some people aren't even in the country at all times and it becomes very hard to sort things out when you aren't around. Please don't place blame on the property owners for this. Place blame on the criminal David Sharma and the shoddy organization of which he was a member......Ray White.

The Man 2 - It's great that you are so apt at managing your own rentals but please don't criticize those that employ property managers. Peoples lives are not all the same. I work my clacker-off to make enough money to invest in property, and that combined with my extensive portfolio and parental commitments does not allow me enough time to self manage effectively. Believe me, I would if I could and if you can't trust RAY WHITE to act professionally then who can you trust. This isn't "Bobs Backyard Slumlords Ltd", this is RAY WHITE we are talking about. A bloody market leader. Well, for me, NEVER AGAIN.

The Man 2 - You are wrong. the man in question is a licensed real estate agent. perhaps you should get your facts straight.