This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
A TASKFORCE established by the Victorian state government has caught out Melbourne real estate agents who attempted to underquote homebuyers.
The Consumer Affairs Victoria underquoting taskforce has tracked hundreds of sales campaigns in 2022-23, attending auctions and inspecting agents’ premises.
Underquoting not only wastes the time and money of people looking to buy a property but can distort the residential market.
Over the 12 months to 30 June 2023, inspectors from Consumer Affairs Victoria issued 48 underquoting infringement notices, which total more than $520,000. This in addition to issuing more than 37 official warnings to 29 estate agencies.
“Underquoting is a scourge – we are stamping out this unacceptable behaviour to protect Victorians and make sure everyone has a fair chance at buying a home,” said Danny Pearson, minister for Consumer Affairs Victoria.
“Dodgy practices are not on and every agent is on notice. If you see something that doesn’t seem right, make a report and that will help the taskforce do its work.”
Advertising or advising a price that is less than the seller’s asking price, the agent’s current estimated selling price, or price in a written offer already rejected by the seller is illegal, after laws were introduced into state parliament in 2016.
And agents must update the price information they provide to buyers if any of these factors at any point throughout the sales campaign.
Agencies can receive penalties of over $36,000 and the loss of sales commissions, with underquoting potentially resulting in penalties of up to $10 million for corporations and $500,000 for individuals, under Australian Consumer Law.
The taskforce is enabled by data collected from complaints submitted to the Consumer Affairs Victoria website.
Allowing the taskforce to identify the locations and agents with the highest amount of suspected underquoting, with inspectors increasing their compliance activities in those areas by attending auctions and inspecting agent sales files.
