LESS than a week after it presented the office of the year award to Mark Kentwell's Newcastle-based agency, PRD Real Estate's headquarters has launched an investigation into the franchise.
PRD Real Estate, which is owned by global property giant Colliers, said on Wednesday it was aware its top-performing franchise was embroiled in allegations about conflicts of interest in some of its property sales.
A spokeswoman declined to answer questions about what, if anything, head office knew about the claims or if it had received any complaints.
"The recent allegations in the Newcastle Herald regarding our Newcastle franchise are serious and concerning, and PRD is currently conducting an investigation into the matter," she said.
"As the matter is under investigation, we are unable to provide further comment at this time."
Mr Kentwell said his businesses complied with all the relevant laws and acted in the best interests of its clients.
"We are continuously improving our systems and compliance procedures to ensure we are exceeding the rules governing the real estate industry and I am confident we will emerge from any review or investigation without fault," he said.
Having to deal with an issue that has the potential to damage its brand in the region is something the company would not welcome.
The region's three franchises, which are owned and operate independently, consistently rank among the company's highest performers.
At the annual awards night in Sydney on Saturday night, which Mr Kentwell did not attend, his franchise was named top office and senior agent Ryan Houston, who is also a partner in the business, was awarded the gong for number two sales agent across PRD's 80 locations.
Mr Kentwell started the first PRD franchise in the Hunter in 2005, which was known at the time as PRD Nationwide Newcastle.
A month-long Herald investigation into the franchise, which now trades as PRD Presence Newcastle, has raised questions about its business dealings, including allegations of conflicts of interest, lack of transparency, data sharing and possible privacy breaches.
The potential conflicts of interest could cast doubts on the appropriateness of millions of dollars' worth of property deals done across the Hunter.
NSW Fair Trading, the state's property services watchdog, has confirmed PRD Presence Newcastle and another real estate firm linked to Mr Kentwell, Future Property Co, which trades as Henderson Advocacy, are the subject of "active inquiries".
It's understood NSW Fair Trading is looking at a number of property sales where PRD Presence represented the sellers and Henderson Advocacy, run by Jack Henderson, a 26-year-old former construction worker who boasts he has a $26 million property portfolio, represented the buyers.
Agents in NSW are not permitted to act for the buyer and seller of a property at the same time, or to profit from both sides of a sale.
Mr Kentwell has denied any wrongdoing, saying he does not work for Henderson Advocacy, has not profited from a 50 per cent stake in the business that is linked to him and PRD made "adequate disclosures" about the business relationship to clients.
He said he has not been contacted by fair trading about the allegations, but he would assist with any investigation into his businesses.
Colliers, which has a global footprint across 69 countries and more than 413 offices, purchased PRD in 2006.
Colliers head office was approached for comment. There is no suggestion that Colliers condoned or even knew about PRD Newcastle's business approach.
Read Mr Kentwell's full statement here.
- Do you know more? Donna.page@newcastleherald.com.au
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