Hi all,
It seems that I may be a bit slow with this considering these changes came into effect on 21 August 2006 but I only found out about it in today's Courier Mail.
From what I can work out, the changes are:
the requirement for real estate agents and auctioneers to now substantiate any price quotations to sellers with a Comparative Market Analysis;
better controls on auctions, including additional strategies to eradicate illegal dummy bidding at auctions with all bidders having to register prior to the auction commencing. Auctioneers will be required to register bidders upon presentation of identification such as a drivers licence in order for their bids to be valid. Bids can only be accepted by registered bidders and auctioneers are required to acknowledge vendor bids;
fees that resident letting agents and real estate agents can charge for holiday lettings has been amended to clarify current confusion as to whether they can charge clients a letting fee, essentially a finding fee, for arranging short term holiday lettings. The changes confirm they are no longer permitted to charge a letting fee. In such cases, they will only be entitled to a commission at the normal rate of up to 12 per cent of the rent.
The Courier Mail article adds that if a seller doesn't want to set a price a property then the buyer will have to pay an agent to get an indicative price. Agents can be fined if they are found guilty of talking about the price without the vendor's written permission, they cannot tell the potential buyer if a price has been set or the general ball park of the price.
Since I'm more of a buyer than a seller, I see this effecting me in the near future (I already find it frustrating when the price of a property is not advertised, especially when I'm looking at buying in an unfamiliar area).
What are other people's thoughts?
It seems that I may be a bit slow with this considering these changes came into effect on 21 August 2006 but I only found out about it in today's Courier Mail.
From what I can work out, the changes are:
the requirement for real estate agents and auctioneers to now substantiate any price quotations to sellers with a Comparative Market Analysis;
better controls on auctions, including additional strategies to eradicate illegal dummy bidding at auctions with all bidders having to register prior to the auction commencing. Auctioneers will be required to register bidders upon presentation of identification such as a drivers licence in order for their bids to be valid. Bids can only be accepted by registered bidders and auctioneers are required to acknowledge vendor bids;
fees that resident letting agents and real estate agents can charge for holiday lettings has been amended to clarify current confusion as to whether they can charge clients a letting fee, essentially a finding fee, for arranging short term holiday lettings. The changes confirm they are no longer permitted to charge a letting fee. In such cases, they will only be entitled to a commission at the normal rate of up to 12 per cent of the rent.
The Courier Mail article adds that if a seller doesn't want to set a price a property then the buyer will have to pay an agent to get an indicative price. Agents can be fined if they are found guilty of talking about the price without the vendor's written permission, they cannot tell the potential buyer if a price has been set or the general ball park of the price.
Since I'm more of a buyer than a seller, I see this effecting me in the near future (I already find it frustrating when the price of a property is not advertised, especially when I'm looking at buying in an unfamiliar area).
What are other people's thoughts?
