The conveyancing licences of Kew-based Cornell Conveyancing Pty Ltd, Han Yan and Jing Xu have been cancelled.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) cancelled their licences on 13 November 2014, after it found that they had:
- not set up or kept trust records relating to trust money the company received
- changed the principal place of business address without giving the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria written notice of the change
- opened two trust accounts without notifying the Director
- failed to submit a copy of the 2011-12 and 2012-13 trust account audit report to the Director
- not kept a register of controlled moneys.
Consumer Affairs Victoria commenced an inquiry into the conduct of Cornell and its directors after inspectors discovered that the company was operating without trust records except for bank balances.
The inspection also detected several other breaches of the Conveyancers Act 2006 and Conveyancers (Professional Conduct Trust Account and General) Regulations 2008.
VCAT also reprimanded the company, Ms Xu and Mr Yan.
Mr Yan was disqualified from holding a conveyancer’s licence for six months. Ms Xu was disqualified from holding a licence for six months, and had limitations placed on the first six months of any future licence.
You can check a licencee's current status via our Search public registers page.