A Ponsonby real estate agent, who got a member of the public to close up after an open home, has been censured by a Real Estate Agents Authority complaints assessment committee.

Carla Pedersen of Damerell Group trading as Ray White Ponsonby was found guilty of unsatisfactory conduct and fined $2000 after a complaint was laid against her, according to the decision issued.

The committee explained the background to the situation last April where Pedersen was marketing a Ponsonby apartment.

A visitor to the open home she was running was asked to lock the apartment and leave because she was at another place, so he brought a complaint against Pedersen, the licensee.

"In April...the complainant attended the licensee's open home for the Property. There were others at the open home but not the licensee, as she was attending another open home in the same apartment block. There was no other agency presence there.

"When the complainant and his partner were ready to leave, they were the last viewers and the licensee had not returned. He phoned the licensee, who advised him she had already left the area and was too busy to return. The licensee asked the complainant to lock the door as he left. This left him concerned about the integrity and professionalism of the licensee," the committee's decision said.

Pedersen explained her actions.

"The licensee accepted that she left the open home before it ended and asked a viewer to lock up.

"Her defence included the comments 'some people want to be left alone', that she had 'back-to-back' open homes, that she had left the key to the other open home at the office so had to meet the vendor there, that the apartment building is a gated community with cameras, that one group at the viewing were existing owners in the building and known to her, that she had asked all the remaining parties that if that last person to leave could "snip" the door behind them, and that she did return to check that the Property had been locked and closed the blinds," the decision said.

The apartment vendors said they were unaware Pedersen was leaving people alone in their place. They had left her in charge of the open home and would not have agreed to people being left there alone, they said.

According to the Real Estate Agents Act 2008, a licensee "must exercise skill, care, competence, and diligence at all times when carrying out real estate work", the committee said.

"None of her reasons remove the requirement on a licensee to ensure a property is adequately secured and to avoid any risk of damage. Leaving the Property as she did, exposed the Property to be unsecured and at risk of damage," the committee found.

"It appears the reason the licensee failed in her duty to attend the open home was because of her 'back-to-back' viewings. We hope that this experience will result in improved scheduling of her future open homes," the committee said.

- NZ Herald