Jacqui Lee Honeyman, from Dunedoo, was picked up by NSW Fair Trading for embezzling $7000 cash from a number of renters in the Hunter region between July 2015 and April 2017.

The 42-year-old fronted Dubbo Local Court last Thursday where she pleaded guilty to five counts of acting as a licensee and fraudulently converting money, and one count of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

Honeyman was working as the sole real estate agent for Kis Property Services in the Hunter region when on five occasions she took rent and bonds from tenants without lodging them with the company's trust account or the Rental Bond Board, court documents revealed.

In July 2015, Honeyman met with a tenant to sign a lease agreement and was given $2420 in cash for one and a half weeks rent and a bond for a property in Thornton. However the $1760 bond was never lodged with the bond board.

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Honeyman again met with another tenant in January 2016 to sign a lease agreement for a property at Cliftleigh when she was given a bond of $1520 which was not lodged with the bond board.

In April 2016, a woman signed a 12-month lease at an Astonfield rental and handed Honeyman a $1800 bond which was never lodged with the bond authority.

By February 2017, the woman notified Honeyman she was relocating interstate but had a friend willing to take over the lease.

In a bizarre exchange, Honeyman told the woman she would transfer the bond money to the new tenant, and he could return the bond of $1800 to the woman, which he did.

However in March 2017, when the man and his housemates signed the tenancy agreement with Honeyman it stipulated a bond of no more than four weeks rent was "lodged to be transferred".

Court documents said Honeyman indicated a bond had been lodged and would be transferred to the new tenant when she knew the bond paid by the first tenant had not been lodged with the rental board. NSW Fair Trading said Honeyman by deception, dishonestly obtained a financial advantage for the first renter for $1800

In February 2017, Honeyman received two weeks rent of $820 from a new tenant who leased a property at Gillieston Heights. This was never lodged with the company's trust to pay the landlords.

Another renter at Kurri Kurri also met with Honeyman in April 2017 who handed over $1230 for half of a bond and one weeks rent, which was not lodged with the company's trust or bond board.

Honeyman's thefts came undone when the company entered into a sales agreement with another real estate agency in March 2017.

During the due diligence period it was discovered that a rental bond for the property at Gillieston Heights had not been lodged with the bond board. After the settlement period it was discovered further bonds had not been lodged.

Honeyman's employment was terminated in August 2017.

In May 2018, the former real estate agent was invited to attend a formal interview with NSW Fair Trading which she asked to be postponed, however she never participated in an interview.

In court on Thursday, defence lawyer Ian McGuinness argued while she was in a position of trust, there was no planning in the offence, as her mental health and life was chaotic at the time she took the money.

"The amount was not high, but a lot to an individual at the time," he said.

The court heard Honeyman had since repaid the owner of the real estate company $1000.

Mr McGuinness asked the court to consider imposing a conditional release order - a good behaviour bond, as she had pleaded guilty at the earliest convenience, there had been a delay in the case and the charges were laid some years later.

Magistrate Mal Macpherson agreed her moral culpability at the time of offending was low, and there was a lack of planning to the offences. However he said a conviction needed to be recorded.

"There's no planning, because her life was chaotic over that period of time," Magistrate Macpherson said.

Honeyman was convicted and sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order. She was also ordered to repay $6130 to the owner of the real estate company.