Real estate agent tried to sell house without ever speaking to owner
A real estate agent who tried to sell a property without ever speaking to the owner knew he was wrong to take instructions from her daughter, a tribunal has decided.
Yankai Paul Pang was contracted to Megan Jaffe Real Estate and working from the Ray White Orakei office when he was contacted about a property in Remuera, Auckland.
The owner lived overseas, and Pang was approached by her daughter, who was a friend, to sell the property in mid-2021, the Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal said.
In a series of text messages, Pang asked the daughter if a lawyer had been contacted to set up a power of attorney so she could sign for her mother.
The daughter told Pang her mother was too busy and wanted her to deal with the sale.
On June 27, 2021, Pang received the owner’s digital signature and an initial from the daughter.
He used the signature in a listing agreement for the sale of the property, and handwrote the owner’s initial on each page.
The agreement was signed on July 14 by Jaffe on behalf of the agency, and Pang began marketing the property. An auction was scheduled for August 19.
When an offer to buy the property was received on August 10, Pang again used the owner’s digital signature and hand-wrote her initial to complete the necessary documents. The offer brought the auction date forward to August 12. However, the property was withdrawn shortly before the auction was due to begin.
According to Pang, the daughter’s father, who was not an owner, did not want to sell, as he believed the property had been undervalued.
After a discussion with the agency’s directors about why the vendor had changed her mind about the auction, Pang’s employment was terminated on November 23.
On the same day, the agency notified the Real Estate Agents Authority of Pang’s conduct.
In a response to charges filed in April 2023, Pang said he had full authority from the vendor to sell the property and to use her signature, and that every time he did so, he had her permission by phone.
Jaffe told the authority vendors were able to sign listing agreements electronically, but must sign the agency agreement.
If Pang had disclosed that he had inserted the signature himself without speaking directly to the vendor, the listing would not have been approved. The pre-auction offer would also not have proceeded if the agency had known that Pang had taken instructions from the daughter and the vendor had not signed the documents, she said.
In a recently released decision, the tribunal said Pang had marketed and attempted to sell the property without authority from the owner.
Even if the owner had given her daughter verbal approval to act on her behalf, as Pang claimed, she did not have power of attorney, so could not legally sell the property.
The tribunal said Pang sought to cover up his actions by telling the agency directors he had spoken to the vendor, and denying that he had written the initials himself. When asked to set up a call between an agency director and the vendor, he had said it would not be possible because she didn’t speak English.
However, the tribunal said Pang could have arranged a conference call, with himself or the daughter acting as an interpreter.
“It is not credible that he believed, if he did, that it was appropriate for him to insert a party’s electronic signature,” it said.
“It is even more improbable that he could have believed it appropriate to handwrite a client’s initial. Such conduct is highly suspicious, and he has chosen not to explain it to the tribunal.”
The tribunal said Pang’s attempts to conceal his wrongdoing were “not the response of a person who has made an honest mistake”.
“The obligation to communicate directly with the client or a person holding a power of attorney is critical to the professional duties of a licensee.”
Pang’s conduct would not be condoned by the public, and was likely to bring the industry into disrepute, it said.
The charge of misconduct was upheld, with penalties to be decided.