Six tenants have successfully sued an unlicensed real estate agent for more than $10,000 after he sent them three fake water bills "for personal gain".
The man was found to have raised rent by $100 per week and charged an extra $400 deposit without the lessor's knowledge, keeping the money for himself.
In an ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal decision published on Wednesday, senior tribunal member Michael Orlov ordered Hongguang He to pay $10,831.40 in damages.
Six former tenants had sued Mr He, seeking damages for deceit and breach of contract.
The tenants rented a home, in Lawson, from 2018 to 2020.
The house was split into two residences, with each section separately rented. Three of the tenants lived upstairs, and three downstairs.
Mr Orlov found Mr He acted as an unlicensed real estate agent for the lessor, Jiang Li.
The tenants claimed Mr He forged three Icon Water invoices and demanded they pay the money into the bank account of his mother-in-law. He was also accused of raising the rent by $100 without the lessor's knowledge or authority, and seeking an extra $400 bond.
Thirdly, it was alleged Mr He had agreed to conduct an end-of-lease clean and garden for $1200 but he "did not do a proper job".
The tenants were then required to pay another $1200 for cleaning and $600 for garden maintenance.
Mr He denied the allegations during a four-day hearing.
He claimed he passed on invoices the lessor gave him and, in accordance with her instructions, charged the tenants two-thirds of the full amount due on the invoices.
He told the tribunal the tenants locked him out of the premises before he finished cleaning.
Mr Orlov found Mr He's evidence about the fake water bills was "riddled with inconsistencies, improbabilities, and deliberate untruths".
"I am satisfied that Mr He was solely responsible for their creation and that he did so for personal financial gain."
Mr Orlov said Ms Li was not a reliable witness.
"She controlled with her husband ... a substantial portfolio of new or near new rental properties she leased to international students, usually from China," he stated.
"She retained bonds paid by tenants instead of depositing them with the territory, which is an offence.
"She required tenants to reimburse her for the full amounts Icon Water charged for water and sewerage supply and water usage where premises were not separately metered and passed on interest charges for late payment, none of which was lawful."
Mr Orlov found the woman's claims she had no records of amounts Mr He paid her each month "highly improbable".
"Mr He collected in the order of $800,000 rent for which he had to account to the lessor and her husband."
