by Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate Lawyer Qualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd The new Conveyancers Act 2006 comes into effect on 1 July, 2008. The new Act was supposed address problems with “black market conveyancers” and dismantle the lawyers’ conveyancing monopoly. But rather than removing the monopoly, the new Act does little more than expand the existing monopoly to include former black market conveyancers, while excluding estate agents. It’s a...
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by Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate Lawyer Qualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd In his weekly propaganda piece in The Age newspaper (The Age “Domain” 29 September, 2007 p.3) CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, Enzo Raimondo makes something of a Freudian slip when he says, “Agents should ask for a single price for properties sold privately.” Like so many of his type, Enzo Raimondo seems to believe that...
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by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au A company within the Herron Todd White group lost a High Court appeal not too long ago on how much damages would compensate former clients for negligent valuation advice. HTW Valuers (Central Queensland) Pty Ltd had to pay damages of $406,194.60, another hundred thousand dollars or so for interest plus legal costs around $600,000.00. The original valuation fee was $250.00 – calculated on two and a half...
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by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au When consumer advocate Neil Jenman sent me a clipping of The Courier-Mail’s report on the 2007 winner of the Office of Fair Trading’s TradeSmart Award, he added a frank warning. “Make sure you have a bucket ready,” he said, “because this’ll make you want to spew.” I was more dismayed than sickened to read how Fair Trading Minister Margaret Keech (in one of her most outrageous acts...
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by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Once, when Queensland’s Premier Peter Beattie was planning a ministerial reshuffle, I offered him this advice: the Fair Trading portfolio, because of its appalling real estate regulation record, should be handled by his Attorney-General – or another legally-qualified minister. Beattie’s Chief of Staff replied: “The Premier does not consider it essential that Ministers have formal qualifications in the areas of their portfolio responsibilities. While there may be advantages in...
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by Pete r Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerConveyancerConsumer Advocatepeter@lawyersconveyancing.com.au We have seen that client trafficking, where payments are offered in return for estate agent “referrals” is a problem, but it’s not just payment that corrupts the relationship. The true corrupting influence is the dependence of the parties on the referral relationship. For a referral to be of value to the parties who matter, the referral must be anonymous. A good referral To put it...
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by Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerConveyancerConsumer Advocatepeter@lawyersconveyancing.com.au I have discussed the way in which payments to estate agents can become illegal secret commissions if they are not disclosed, and how the disclosure of payments tends to work against the purpose of the payments. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I assume that any payments or gifts made by Richard Wood Solicitors to Barry Plant Real Estate’s estate agents, or any other...
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by Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerConveyancerConsumer Advocatepeter@lawyersconveyancing.com.au In the absence of evidence to the contrary, we must assume that Richard Wood Solicitors and Barry Plant Real Estate have done everything the law requires of them in relation to gifts offered to estate agents in return for client referrals. But does it make sense for a lawyer or conveyancer to offer gifts to estate agents if legal compliance makes the whole exercise a waste...
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