New Laws for Australia house-buyers
17 October 2015 by News Desk
Home-buyers in New South Wales, Australia will get greater protection when purchasing a property via new laws passed by the NSW Government.
New rules covering terms of sale between seller and agent are aimed at ending agents’ practice of ‘under-quoting’ when listing a property for sale. “Under-quoting is illegal and misleads potential buyers. Reform is long overdue,” said Victor Dominello, Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation. The new laws will take effect on January 1st 2016
Changes to the Property Stock and Business Agents Act 2002 include:
Agents will be required to provide evidence of their estimated selling price to the vendor and this estimate must be stated in the agency agreement;
When marketing a property an agent must only use the estimated selling price provided in the agency agreement;
Estimated selling price can be a single figure or a price range. If a price range is used, the highest price must not be more than 10% higher than the lowest price;
Advertisements and representations that say “offers over” or “offers above” or any similar statement will be prohibited;
Agents will be required to keep a register of prices quoted on a property whether these are provided to the vendor or prospective purchasers.
In addition to the existing penalty of $22,000, agents found guilty of under-quoting will face forfeiture of any commission or fees from the sale.
