"Most people don't read about achievements. They like to read about drama and negativity," James said.
Under the Real Estate Agents Act 2008, no money received by an agent handling a sale can be released from a property's sale for at least 10 working days after it is paid.
But the committee chaired by Paul Biddington with William Acton and Belinda Moss found James Group had breached that twice and money went out in just nine days.
Other key concerns cited in the decision were that the agency didn't provide a statutory declaration or monthly reconciliations in certain time periods when it should have.
"The committee found that the agency has twice released funds earlier than 10 working days in breach of the act," the decision said citing actions by the business in 2019 and 20202.
"The committee notes the agency points to human error as the main reason for its failures," it said, citing an employee from South Africa, unaware of Waitangi Day or a city's anniversary day.
So the deposit was paid out of the account in nine days instead of 10 days.
The other breach was where funds were accidentally transferred from the wrong account and that was also blamed on human error.
The committee accepted the agency's willingness to try to meet its obligations. But it said it "cannot understand why the agency has not considered outsourcing its trust account compliance obligations. The committee accepted that the conduct of the agency was not wilful or reckless, however the finding of unsatisfactory conduct was because the agency had been trying to meet its obligations for a number of years and was still failing."
Asked about that today, Blair James said he would rather keep control of money and not outsource that aspect of his business. But he said a number of systems had been changed subsequently.
The decision said the agency "considered that the finding of unsatisfactory [conduct] was harsh". James Group asked that no further penalty or action be proposed. It cited a number of reasons for its pattern of non-compliance including turnover of administrative staff, unfamiliarity with public holidays and implementation of different systems and software.
The committee disagreed with the agency's objection to the fine and decided to impose the financial penalty.
"The reason for the penalties that have been imposed is to protect the public and to deter the agency from engaging in the same or similar conduct in the future," the committee decided.
It directed the publication of the decision but without the names or identification of the complainant or the address of the property involved.
Publication supported the purpose of the act by ensuring disciplinary processes remain transparent, independent and effective, it said.
James Group said Blair founded that business in 2012 and now heads the team as managing director.
"Blair has over 10 years of commercial and industrial property transaction experience Auckland-wide. More recently, Blair has shifted his focus from the frontline of transactions to the high level, business planning and strategy for James Group," the business says.
Significant achievements listed include in 2012 being named REINZ rising star, in 2016 being New Zealand's 26th fastest growing company in the 2016 Deloitte Fast50, in 2019 being a Westpac business award finalist for the employer of the year as well and finalist for excellence in customer service delivery.
In 2020 it was a REINZ manager of the year finalist but this year, James won the REINZ manager award: "It was huge," he said today of this year's achievement.
On the authority decision, James said that had been a good learning curve and he acknowledged the recommendation to get external assistance but refused that.
"We would rather have control of the money. For obvious reasons, that's not something we would want to do," he said of the committee's recommendation that part of the business be outsourced.
