Property Snatchers

Contradicting their own stated policy, NSW Trustee & Guardian are obsessed with selling client property and it may be related to undue influence from discredited contractors Black Rock. Despite gag orders preventing stories being told, NSW Trustee & Guardian's own statistics betray their motivation. Read the interview with APTAGIE by journalist Paul Gregoire who also asks what kind of reform, in general, activists would like to see implemented.

Paul's report focuses on general issues but here is one particular NSW instance which was not gagged. While the scale of this racket is pronounced in NSW, Queensland clients also suffer rapacious sell-offs by the Public Trustee.

The following analysis is from APTAGIE member Gary White, posted to FaceBook 27 March 2023:

For the record, NSW Trustee & Guardian (NSWTG) has had an average of 12,138 clients on its books at the end of each financial year over the last 5 years and has sold on average 614 of their clients’ homes each year over that same period.



By comparison, State Trustees in Victoria has had approximately 11,400 clients on its books in recent years and has sold on average around 260 of their clients’ homes each year over that same period.

Even the Public Trustee of QLD (PTQ), which has received so much bad publicity recently over its abuse and exploitation of its clients, is no match for NSWTG. PTQ has had over 10,000 clients under its administration in recent years and has sold approximately 420 of their clients’ homes on average each year in that time frame.

NSWTG absolutely loves selling their clients’ homes as they, or their staff, are paid handsome spotters fees by the real estate agents that sell the properties. This is said to amount to at least 25% of the agent’s commission for the sale which in turn is usually around 2.5% of the selling price for the property. NSWTG has even been known to agree to  Exclusive Agency Agreements with agents who are prepared to pay even higher levels of spotters fees.

The rackets do not stop there as it is virtually normal practice for the contents of the properties to simply disappear ahead of the sales and for NSWTG to then blame family members for their disappearance and refuse to cover the losses. Instead, the clients end up paying enormous charges to contractors to prepare the properties for sale when in many cases what NSWTG has been unable to sell off is just put out on the street to be taken away in council kerbside clearances paid for by the client through their council rates.

Selling of clients’ homes should only occur as a last resort when the clients don’t want them sold but in NSW they are sold regardless as no one is ever held to account for this wilful destruction of clients’ estates. State governments of either political persuasion are happy for this to continue as the money it makes for them is just too good. In addition, they also have the massive stamp duties to look forward  to from the eventual purchasers of the properties that NSWTG sells.