Failure to check emails costs $10k

[JamesGG]

For one reason or another, I find myself still renewing my REIV membership every year. One benefit to that is getting the EA magazine sent out to me every couple of months, which has a lot of rubbish, a lot of ads, and the odd article of interest.

One such article in this edition is headed, as above, "Failure to check emails costs $10k".

My first thought was to wonder how many agents were about to go bankrupt...

Anyway, summation of the article is that an agency with a property due to auction shortly, managed to sell it prior. Vendor was, quoting VCAT, "delighted" with the sale price and all was good.

Until, the vendor's neighbour contacts them, and reveals that they had their buyer's advocate ring the agent (prior to sale) and ask that the property not be sold before auction without giving them a chance to make an offer as well. The advocate then emailed the agent on the same day with an expression of interest and confirming the request.

The agent didn't check his emails again until after the sale was arranged to someone else, and didn't contact the advocate again during that time.

The neighbour now claims that he would have paid $40,000 more for the property than the eventual purchaser did. The vendor wasn't so delighted anymore and subsequently issued legal proceedings. VCAT found that the agent was in breach of his duty of care to obtain the best possible price for the vendor, because he didn't check his email regularly enough and didn't follow up the potential offer from the advocate.

So VCAT, in all their wisdom, issued a compensation order of $10,000 from the agency to the vendor.

 

[Piston Broke]

I'm no REA's advocate, but I'd say the lazy buyers advocate is at fault for not doing his/her job properly.
They should be paying the fine.

 

[Xenia]

Wow!
That's why some of us hire PAs to get through the 300 emails we recieve per day

 

[jrc]

It wasn't a fine, it was compensation to the Vendors by their agent for the agent's failure to sell at the best price. The agent had by his conduct indicated that email was an appropriate way to contact him, but did not have facilities to check his email.

 

[Alabex]

i am glued to my email.. our office received hundreds of them everyday... no idea how a real estate office operates without checking their emails at least every half hour or so...all our sales and PM staff also receive emails to their mobile phones.

 

[RumpledElf]

You people get all the interesting emails. All I got today was someone demanding my webhost remove a picture from copyright violation ... of course he changed the copyright between me finding it and him reporting it. Some people ... can't they just ask nicely for something?

 

[Ausprop]

wanted to make an offer but didn't...right. what if they were prepared to pay a gazillion $'s more? Sounds like government bending over backwards to appease the public and making business even more difficult.

 

[travelbug]

I'm no REA's advocate, but I'd say the lazy buyers advocate is at fault for not doing his/her job properly.
They should be paying the fine.

How is it a lazy buyers advocate?
They put in an expression of interest and heard nothing so would assume it was going to auction.
Are they supposed to ring everyday and ask if they've had any offers? That's what the expression of interest is for.

 

[jaycee]

That was what I read too (as per Travelbugs post)

 

[Piston Broke]

How is it a lazy buyers advocate?
They put in an expression of interest and heard nothing so would assume it was going to auction.
Are they supposed to ring everyday and ask if they've had any offers? That's what the expression of interest is for.

The lazy neighbour was interested in purchasing, supposedly.
So he contacted the incompetent buyers advocate to tell his neighbour that he was interested.
The lazy advocate sends an email, but does'nt chase up.
The lazy neighbour who lives next did'nt even bother anything of course.
And both believe that their requests are orders that must halt any proceedings?
And since when does an "experession of interest" mean "he would've bought"?
Or maybe it's a story about 2 happy neighbours with some more beer money...

 

[Minx]

One word, Blackberry! I'm not an agent but I have one and it's the best thing since sliced bread! I have multiple email accounts that deliver my emails straight to my phone and mail server.
You would think in this day and age that the RE Agency would have this technology!