Three months after Consumer Protection issued a warning over a Perth house relocation company alleged to have left around 40 people $6 million out of pocket collectively, questions are now being raised about why it is still operating.
Perth House Relocators, also known as JT Projects and JST Projects Australasia, is run by 35-year-old James Sinclair Thomson.
He buys old homes and removes them, selling them on, charging clients for transportation, as well as development plans, council approvals, renovations, additions, site earthworks and plumbing installation.
But over the past 12 months, Thomson has been accused by a growing list of people of being a scammer. They say he has not honoured contracts, takes deposits without supplying them with a house, owes contractors pay for work, and hotels for accommodation and food.
Sinclair told this masthead in June that he strenuously denied the allegations.
Weeks later Consumer Protection released a warning against engaging with Thomson after nine separate complaints were made.
Now it’s alleged those complaints have risen, while Thomson continues operating.
On Thursday, WA Nationals leader Shane Love took growing concerns to parliament, asking Commerce Minister Tony Buti what action had been taken to stop Thomson from continuing to operate.
“My office has received significant additional complaints regarding Mr Thomson, which far exceeded the volume reported by Consumer Protection,” he said.
Love cited families who were left out of pocket by hundreds of thousands of dollars after paying Thomson for a house they either never received, or was so unfinished they couldn’t live in it.
He said the emotional and financial impact on them had been devastating.
“I ask the minister, has Consumer Protection received any further complaints about work solicited, contracted, or paid for after its July warning?” Love said.
“Has it established whether Mr Thomson continued advertising or accepting the inquiries under his various business names, and what further enforcement action has been taken against Mr Thomson?”
Love also pressed the minister on modular home supplier Bella Modular that allegedly owed approximately 60 Western Australian families, contractors and suppliers more than $4 million collectively before it went into administration.
“These cases expose a serious gap in consumer protection for businesses operating around the building industry, including modular home suppliers and house relocators, they can handle enormous amounts of money while potentially sitting outside parts of the registration framework and associated protections, including home indemnity insurance,” he said.
“Relocatable houses and modular homes are still homes. Consumers should not be left carrying the risk simply because a building business operates under a different model.”
Buti said that since the Consumer Protection warning about Thomson, three more complaints have been made, before adding that “the penalty for an offence of this nature under the Australian Consumer Law is up to $100 million for a company, or two-and-a-half million dollars for an individual.”
“I’ve asked the Building Commissioner to provide me with advice on how the regulatory framework should respond to the growing use of modern methods of construction, including modular and prefabricated housing, to strengthen protection for Western Australian consumers,” he said.
“This includes consideration of how consumer protections, insurance arrangements, and regulatory requirements can be applied more consistently across different housing delivery models, while providing greater confidence for home buyers and greater consistency across jurisdictions.”
In response Thomson posted to his company’s Facebook page on Thursday evening stating that it was “pretty disgraceful when a potential leader of this state doesn’t know the difference between fake news and reality, or can’t factually articulate it with evidence” before adding tags to the post including this journalist’s name and the words “definition of defamation”.
Thomson is facing criminal allegations that he assaulted one of the aggrieved complainants, who confronted him at a worksite in Bridgetown claiming Thomson owes him $120,000 for a house he never received.
During that confrontation, Josh Aylett alleged that Thomson tailgated him for 40 kilometres to Nannup, T-boned his car and pepper-sprayed him in the face. Thomson was arrested and charged with dangerous driving, no authority to drive, possessing a controlled weapon, endangering the life, health and safety of a person, and cause poison to be administered.
Thomson pleaded not guilty to the allegations and is taking the charges to trial in March.
Multiple attempts to engage Thomson in civil legal action to reclaim money have been unsuccessful.