Simon Corbell is expressing concern that real estate agents don’t seem to have had any enthusiasm for learning about their obligations to inform potential buyers:
“Recent months have shown a general lack of awareness by some people in the real estate industry about their obligations to disclose information to potential buyers when selling property or land in theACT. This lack of awareness relates particularly to the status of a Development Approval (DA) for a property,” said Mr Corbell.
“The status of a DA is likely to impact on whether a potential buyer remains interested in purchasing a property or not, and failing to disclose the status on a DA may cost the potential buyer time and money.
“If an agent knows of circumstances that would reasonably affect the value of the property, or the decision to even purchase the property, and does not disclose the circumstances to a purchaser, the agent is potentially acting dishonestly and deceitfully.”
Failure to disclose information can result in the Office of Regulatory Services (ORS) taking disciplinary action against agents who have acted dishonestly. The criminal and civil penalties for engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct can extend to $1.1 million under the ACL. In addition, agents may lose their ability to work in the ACT.
One suspects that to get the message across there will need to be a few executions. To encourage the others.
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