A 27-year-old man from Tregear has been convicted after falsely representing himself as a licensed electrician and fraudulently passing off building works of others as his own.
Daniel Scott Harrison, also known as Daniel Harrison and Scott Harrison, was charged with unlicensed contracting, performing unlicensed specialist work, falsely presenting himself as a licenced contractor and fraud. He was sentenced at Parramatta Local Court on 18 January and his appeal of the conviction was withdrawn and dismissed on 22 February.
NSW Fair Trading Commissioner, Rose Webb said Harrison was sentenced to two years imprisonment, to be served in accordance with an Intensive Correction Order, perform 300 hours of community service and pay over $45,000 in fines, compensation and costs.
Ms Webb said Harrison deceitfully obtained a financial advantage of more than $12,000 from a customer in Woodcroft by falsely claiming that his company, Lushomes Pty Ltd, was the builder of a new home in Harrington Park, which it was not. This included the customer being taken for a tour of a construction site to be shown the home.
"Harrison continued to seek payments despite submitting incomplete and unfinished approval plans and tenders to the client on multiple occasions," Ms Webb said.
"Harrison went as far as creating a website and an email address to communicate with the consumer and mislead him into paying $10,000 on the false belief that the money was for the third-party business engaged to assist with the plan approval. Unbeknown to the homeowner, Harrison was also behind the approvals business."
The Home Building Act 1989 states a person must not do any residential or specialist building work if they are not the holder of a contractor licence authorising them to do that work.
Ms Webb said consumers should be wary when asked for large upfront deposits and to always check the supplied contractor licence number on the Fair Trading website.
"NSW Fair Trading will continue to prosecute those who deliberately deceive consumers by presenting themselves as being licenced and experienced," Ms Webb said.
