Realtor Yaming Sun fined $35k for selling plots of land a fraction of advertised size

One of the plots of land was just 61 per cent of the size the realtor said it would be prior to purchase. Photo / 123rf

Size in fact does matter as a realtor found out this week.

Yaming Sun, who also goes by the name Jessica Sun, sold three plots of land to buyers who went on to find out they were but a fraction of the advertised size with one plot clocking in at just 61 per cent of the promised acreage.

This week the Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal censured and fined Sun $35,000 after finding her guilty of misconduct and described her as “out of her depth” and having little understanding of how to interpret council plans.

That misconduct was in relation to three plots of land she told potential buyers at an Auckland subdivision in 2016 were all over 600sq m and there would be plenty of space to build a 400sq m house as well as a swimming pool.

However, when the titles were issued in November of the following year the buyers pointed out that the size of the plots were smaller than they had been told.

Lot one was 374sq m, or 61 per cent of the promised 603sq m. Lot two was 389sq m and Lot three was 455sq m despite both being advertised at just over 600sq m.

None of the plots of land reached a final settlement.

Sun was also found guilty of having disclosed the vendor’s financial situation to a prospective buyer in saying that he was “anxious” to sell as his bank loan was nearly due.

The tribunal has this week issued a censure for Sun and ordered her to pay $7000 as well as $27,000 in legal costs.

However, Sun cancelled her real estate licence in 2018 and has since moved overseas.

The tribunal said that Sun’s actions were “seriously negligent” and that none of her errors were minor.

“Whilst giving evidence at the hearing, it was apparent that Ms Sun lacked a fundamental understanding of her professional obligations as a licensee, and of basic concepts relating to real estate transactions, such as marketing, confidentiality and easements,” the tribunal’s decision reads.

“Ms Sun did not cooperate with the committee or accept responsibility for her misconduct.”

The tribunal found her misconduct to be at the higher end because there were multiple breaches and that she hadn’t taken any steps to ensure she understood the land she was marketing.

The standards committee prosecuting Sun told the tribunal that while the realtor had already surrendered her licence the level of negligence she’d displayed raised concerns about protecting the public from her.

Counsel for that standards committee, Elena Mok, submitted that there was a need to send a strong message to other licensees about the consequences of engaging in similar conduct.

Mok also mentioned that Sun did not accept responsibility for her actions which meant a number of witnesses had to be called as well as a large amount of documents procured to be cited as evidence.

Hearing

Sun did not attend the seven-day hearing last year but said in her statement of defence that the misrepresentation of the plot sizes was the landowner’s fault and she was only passing on information to buyers.

But in his evidence the landowner said he had provided Sun a copy of the council-approved subdivision plans which included details of the various easements that applied to each of the lots.

As part of her evidence, Sun called her mother, husband and neighbour as witnesses who all said they had been to the site and the landowner had told them the various lot sizes were just over 600sq m.

However, the committee said that all of Sun’s witnesses had a personal connection with her, their statements contained near-identical wording and alleged they had conferred with Sun in making them.

Sun also faced charges of disclosing confidential information to one of the buyers via the messaging app WeChat regarding the net size of one of the lots.

“I will go and talk with [the landowner]. He is very frustrated now. He is very anxious because there has been no update from this side. The bank loan is nearly due. I hope you can have a proper discussion,” the message in question reads.

Sun then sent a screenshot of this message to the landowner in an attempt to convince him to resolve the dispute about driveway easements with the prospective purchaser.

However, during her evidence at the hearing, Sun raised concerns as to the legitimacy of the WeChat messages, suggesting they had been altered or photoshopped.

The committee prosecuting Sun said she was still acting for the landowner at the time and that information about a vendor’s financial circumstances would typically be confidential.

They said disclosing information a vendor was under financial pressure could have given the purchaser an advantage in negotiations about the disputed size of the lots.

The tribunal said Sun did not have permission to pass on the information and that the “disclosure was particularly inappropriate given the issues arising around settlement of the transactions and knowledge of this information was a factor that could have affected settlement for the particular lot”.

It also dismissed Sun’s evidence that the screenshot of the WeChat conversation the landowner provided was altered in any way.

Sun was also found guilty of charges of marketing the various plots of land without an agency agreement and discrepancies in the GST schedules continued in each of the sales and purchase agreements of the lots.

Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.