Sydney agency under Fair Trading investigation for underquoting
Possible underquoting activity from an agency in Sydney is under investigation, according to NSW Fair Trading Minister Matthew Mason-Cox.
Operation Balaya, an investigation specifically developed to look at real estate compliance, was launched last month. The operation included intelligence gathering to look for underquoting.
The investigation was on agencies operating in the inner-city and Haymarket area. Officers checked licences, certificates, current continuing professional development, professional indemnity insurance and current and past financial year qualified audits.
“During its inspections, NSW Fair Trading identified certain information that requires further investigation to establish whether or not representations made by a real estate agency in relation to a number of recent sales were misleading,” Mason-Cox said.
“Agents who engaged in this illegal practice could face a maximum penalty of $22,000 or depending on the severity of the breaches an agency could have its license cancelled.”
He said that underquoting is a serious offence and that Fair Trading will not tolerate it.
“Not only does it seriously compromise the integrity of the real estate market, it puts enormous financial stress on innocent homebuyers,” he said.
Fair Trading’s results from Operation Balaya will continue to focus on underquoting and they have announced that enforcement action against those found to be non-compliant will be taken.
“From the 836 licences checked, 24 penalty infringement notices were issued valued at $27,100 for a range of breaches, including operating without a licence, failure to lodge an audit or complete continuing professional development before the renewal of a licence or certificate,” Mason-Cox said.
This is the 10th operation targeting the real estate industry across Sydney this year, with more than 762 agents visited and the licences or certificates of 1,342 agents sighted.
More than 59 penalty infringement notices have been issued – including for failing to have a licence and failing to supervise staff and business.