OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd Peter Francis is a high-flying legal-eagle with the high-powered law firm Maddocks Lawyers of Melbourne. Peter Francis wrote a letter to a vendor of real estate on behalf of a very well known real Melbourne estate agent, accusing the vendor of “dummy bidding”. It is highly unusual for a lawyer to make a direct allegation of such a serious nature,...
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OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd Hot on the heels of the contract switchers at Barry Plant Real Estate Croydon comes Ranges First National Real Estate of Belgrave. But things get much worse when the switching of contracts is compounded with lies and threats as part of an attempted cover-up. The contract switch As usual (see other postings on contract switching), we told the Ranges...
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OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd According to Chris Vedelago, writing for The Age newspaper, “Falling sales levels and the prospect of a weaker market has led more than one in 10 real estate companies to consider selling up…The number of companies looking to move out of real estate has quadrupled…The Real Estate Institute of Victoria says agency revenues have dropped 20%.” When things get...
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OPINIONby Neil Jenman Consumer Advocate A former Ray White franchise agent, John Michael Talia, has been convicted of obtaining property by deception. Last Thursday (August 14, 2008), after the guilty verdict was read out in the Victorian County Court, John Talia was remanded in custody. Locked up. Well done prosecutors. It’s about time that agents who rob the naïve and the elderly were properly punished – and the proper punishment for agents such as John...
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OPINIONby Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate LawyerQualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd Geoff Thompson is the Director of Barry Plant Real Estate in Croydon Victoria, and the Barry Plant Real Estate tag line is “The red carpet experience”. I felt that the red carpet had been pulled out from under me and my client when Geoff Thompson’s sales representative Pauline Ferguson switched contracts without my knowledge and without any explanation. Secret...
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by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B Solicitor Consumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Real estate consumer protection goes west as a result of a convoluted dog’s breakfast amendment to the law, according to Tim O’Dwyer. Linda Lavarch MP noticed two Legal Aid lawyers sitting in the public gallery during a recent session of State Parliament. “They had tears in their eyes as the Attorney rose to speak,” she later told her parliamentary colleagues before explaining how...
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Opinion by Neil Jenman Consumer Advocate Victoria’s real estate industry is embroiled in another scandal. This time, the body at the centre of the scandal is the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (the REIV) and its CEO, Mr Enzo Raimondo. The REIV is an industry association whose members comprise around 80 per cent of the state’s 6,000 estate agents. The REIV’s purpose is to protect the interests of its member agents. One of its aims...
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