Consumer Affairs Victoria starts legal action against estate agency Colliers International Victoria for alleged underquoting

The Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria has started legal action against estate agency Colliers International (Victoria) for alleged underquoting and making misleading representations about property sale prices. 

It alleges that these breaches of Victoria’s estate agent and consumer laws occurred at various times between June 2017 and February 2018. 

The allegations are that Colliers made representations to potential property purchasers by: 

• providing an indicative selling price that was less than the vendor was prepared to sell the property for
• indicating that vendors were prepared to sell land at a price less than the estimated selling price in the engagement documents, and against vendors’ instructions. 

The properties were at Navigators and Sarsfield.

CAV also allege that Colliers made representations to purchasers about the availability of certain permit approvals for land for a retirement village.

Consumer Affairs Victoria investigated Colliers after two separate complaints.

The complaints alleged that the company: 

• was using the phrase ‘permit approved’ during the marketing of a development site, when no such approval existed, and 
• stated the estimated selling price on a property would be $1.8 million, but set a search price of $1.2 million in online advertisements - significantly below the asking price. 

The matter is expected to be heard at the Supreme Court of Victoria later in 2020.

The watchdog alleges two Colliers agents marketed a prime Rosebud development site claiming it had planning approval for 64 retirement living units when it had no such thing.

The individual Colliers estate agents named in the writ are not defendants in the proceeding.