Who legally can give property investment advice?

[Noodle]

Now you would think the answer to my question would be simple i.e. A property investment advisor. But the truth is the industry is unregulated with many different facets making this a truly difficult question. The answer for which I still don't know.

So what qualification does a true property investment advisor get?

Mortgage Brokers, Buyers Agents, Accountants, REA's, Solicitors and Financial Planners all to some extent could be considered a property investment advisor and are all licensed in their specific fields, yet more often than not are not legally permitted to give specific investment advice outside their niche. However the number of newbies I have heard someone say "go and speak to a professional for advice" regarding what someone should do regarding investing is unbelievable yet there is no one place.

PIPA seem to have the closest qualification I can see existing but until this is mandatory then the reality is that very few companies will bother to become members.

Take this forum for example. There are some truly brilliant and experienced professionals on here yet how many are members of PIPA???

 

[Terry_w]

Property is not a financial product so it is not regulated under the corporations act. Basically anyone can advise on property investment. But credit advice needs to be done by a ACL holder, legal advice by a solicitor, tax advice by a solicitor or a tax agent. Financial advice by a AFS license holder - but probably wouldn't involve financial services advice with property.

If the person was selling property then a real estate agent's license.

 

[Rolf Latham]

caveat Emptor I think
ta
rolf

 

[RPI]

Accountants are not licensed as such. To be able to use CPA or Chartered Accountant you need to meet the requirements of those bodies.

The term accountant, last time I looked anyway is not a restricted word for describing a profession. Tax agent is highly regulated. My understanding is and please correct me if I am wrong, and I really hope I am wrong, is that anyone can call themselves an accountant with no qualifications or training at all.

Qualifications don't always maketh the man, plenty of highly qualified dodgy type people out there but it would be nice if there were national restrictions or at least state based accounting profession acts, like there is for lawyers. This would also allow people to be licensed and get the boot from that scheme and no longer be able to practice.

An Accountant please tell me that it has gotten better and changed since I last looked years ago.

Any accountant I have been involved in suing has had qualifications and been members of a body, they have done things wrong like provide legal advice on structures or in one case let a company be deregistered and then register a new company instead of re-registering the old one and the old one had a leasehold business worth a lot of money (and this only come out during a sale process.)

D

 

[Jamie M]

Margaret Lomas has been vocal about regulating the industry for a while now and I think she's one of, if not the main driver, behind PIPA.

Having said that, I've never met another professional in the field that's affiliated with PIPA.

I do think there's merit behind it though. It's scary the number of glorified real estate agents out there spruiking overpriced OTP properties to new investors - and this is only one example.

Cheers

Jamie

 

[Buzz]

When weighing up the PIPA vs PIAA options to become certified as a property adviser I opted to do the PIAA course, as they were formed by investors with investors interests at heart. I am sure those who take the time, effort and expense to be certified by either organisation organisations deserves a look.

Here is the PIAA site http://www.piaa.asn.au/

Hope this helps

Jane Slack-Smith

 

[Aaron_C]

Regulation...it's all over once a bureaucrat gets their hand on the wheel. Less please and let the practitioners do their thing.

No such thing as property advice just get opinions from all those professionals but most importantly make up your own mind.

 

[Noodle]

Thanks all Still find it quite surprising how the powers that be do not consider property a 'financial product', surely it is the biggest financial decision most people ever make.

 

[OKFFW]

Thanks all Still find it quite surprising how the powers that be do not consider property a 'financial product', surely it is the biggest financial decision most people ever make.

I'd argue that "most people" do not make a financial decision when it comes to property. They make a decision about what they want to live in and where. That decision just happens to cost them money.

 

[Rolf Latham]

Thanks all Still find it quite surprising how the powers that be do not consider property a 'financial product', surely it is the biggest financial decision most people ever make.

on the other hand, for most people, property is a simple investment that is usually transparent

ta
rolf

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

Thanks all Still find it quite surprising how the powers that be do not consider property a 'financial product', surely it is the biggest financial decision most people ever make.

Hardly. Most make an emotional decision. Even when you try to train them out of the emotions, they still screw it up.

There's an even bigger emotional decision in life, and I'm also amazed at how many people stuff that one up as well...