Select Rent Registry Ltd v Stevens - [1990] 2 NZLR 588

Criminal law — Sentence — Unlicensed real estate agent — Forfeiture — Company in the business of arranging and managing tenancies pleaded guilty in the District Court to a charge of carrying on business as a real estate agent while not holding a licence to do so — Company appealed against maximum fine imposed and forfeiture of income derived from such illegal business — Whether order for forfeiture was part of sentence and therefore subject to appeal — Whether trial Judge was correct in holding that a real estate agent's licence was not required for the management (as opposed to the arrangement) of tenancies — Whether on sentence the criminal standard of proof was required in respect of all matters relied on by informant — Whether the order for forfeiture could be sustained in the absence of evidence as to the quantum of fees received by the company from its illegal activities or as to whether those fees were still held by it — Whether imposition of maximum fine was appropriate in absence of evidence of profit to company or harm to its clients — Real Estate Agents Act 1976, s 16(2).

Real estate agents — Person acting as an agent — Management of rented properties — Whether a company engaged in the management of rented properties was required to be licensed as a real estate agent — Real Estate Agents Act 1976, s 16(2).