Previously disqualified "agent" found working without license

Heather Filippini from the Gold Coast has been fined $9,000 by the Southport Magistrates Court this month after being found guilty of conducting negotiations around buying and selling properties at Paradise Point acting as a real estate salesperson without a current certificate.

Filippini was fined $9,000 and was ordered to pay costs of $1,500, with a recorded conviction.

The Office of Fairtrading initially brought the charges against Filippini, and she had already been disqualified from holding a real estate license in 2010 after an investigation found her working unlicensed at an agency run by her daughter, Sarah Filippini.

In 2006, Heather Filippini had been disqualified for four years and fined $11,250 after obtaining a beneficial interest in property and selling without being property appointed.

In 2007, the ban was overturned. In 2008, the Court of Appeal upheld the original disqualification.

In 2009, she was given a 'life ban' by the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal (CCT).

In October 2009, Minister for Fair Trading Peter Lawlor said that Filippini is a serial offender who blatantly flaunted the law by operating unlicensed.

"Ms Filippini had previously been disqualified from holding a licence for four years after the tribunal found her guilty in 2006 on two disciplinary charges relating to beneficial interest provisions," he said.

At the time, disciplinary action was also initiated against Sarah Filippini as she employed an unlicensed person. Sarah Filippini was reprimanded and ordered to pay a $6,000 fine.

Filippini had previously been the topic of a Today Tonight investigation as well as a Courier Mail story five years before her ban.