Ryan and Rachel Carr: The Block Couple’s Complaint Against Realtor Britney Kraus
A couple from reality TV show The Block have been caught up in a battle with an estate agent over his failure to ensure their insurance policy was up to date.
Ryan and Rachel Carr, who appeared in the latest season of the popular show, were awarded $760 by the NSW Civil and Administrative Court for losses suffered due to the lapsed insurance policy.
It came after they claimed Assured Rent Real Estate manager Britney Kraus had been negligent in the performance of her duties.
“The parties agree that a management agency agreement has been executed,” the court said in its findings.
“The amount of rent due is not disputed. The dispute concerns whether the defendant was negligent in the services it provided to the plaintiff (owner) and failed to ensure that the plaintiff had valid owner’s insurance and to provide services adequate to mitigate the plaintiff’s loss of rent.
“The court is satisfied that the defendant failed to inform the plaintiff of the expired insurance notices; he failed to act with due care and skill and breached safeguards under the Australian consumer laws in his services to the claimant. »
The couple had claimed $5,392.50 but failed to obtain the full amount.
“The court is not satisfied that the defendant was negligent in its services to the plaintiff by failing to take any collection action against the tenant during the tenancy,” the court said.
“The court finds no breach of Australian consumer laws by the defendant in its failure to bring collection action against the tenant on the landlord’s behalf.”
Ms Kraus told NCA NewsWire that Mr Carr had been consulted.
“We submitted an email to claimant Ryan Carr to the effect of ‘Ryan, as discussed on the phone, you do not want our agency to pay for your homeowner’s insurance policy as you will be looking for a better provider’, she said. said.
“So we didn’t pay his police.”
NCA NewsWire seeks comments from Mr. Carr.
It was revealed this week that Ms Kraus and her agency will be subject to strict compliance monitoring after at least 171 complaints were filed by tenants and clients since 2017.
Ms Kraus and the agency must report quarterly to Fair Trading NSW, referencing details of any complaints received.
It generated at least 91 complaints, including 10 between February and June this year, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Ms Kraus was given six fines for failing to post rental deposits, as well as other offenses for failing to meet trust account balances and breaching rules of conduct.
Complaints made to Fair Trading NSW included funds withheld from landlords, customers not receiving rent, not paying water and strata bills, and faulty or missing keys.
Ms Kraus said she was receiving advice on possible changes to the undertaking, saying “the facts, issues and circumstances set out therein do not accurately reflect the factual background of the case”.
“The majority of people who filed a complaint with our office had their complaint handled, and then after we processed their complaint, still filed a complaint directly with Fair Trading,” she said.
“We believe these are internet trolls trying to unfairly cause maximum collateral damage to our business.
“Assured Rent strives to provide a high standard of operation (and) meets the terms of engagement.”
Ms. Kraus and the agency were ordered to pay a $4,400 fine.