by Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate Lawyer Qualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd Many, if not most, lawyers and conveyancers play along with the pretence that it is the role of the estate agent to advise the purchaser and the vendor on contract law, and to prepare and execute the contract of sale on behaof of both parties. It would appear that lawyers and conveyancers have found that it is cheaper...
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by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Solicitors, not estate agents, should prepare sales contracts. This is the view of the Gold Coast District Law Association which has called for Queensland to be brought into line with the long-established New South Wales practice whereby agents do not prepare or exchange contracts. Queensland Law Society president Megan Mahon agrees that real estate consumers “should be guided by professional legal advice at every stage”. “The (legal)...
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by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au Below are comments I have received independently from a couple of legal colleagues. They are clearly quite concerned about the ‘costs consequences’ of conveyancing solicitors’, rather than real estate agents’, preparing sales contracts. The first comment (slightly edited) comes from a North Queensland practitioner. The second (also edited a tad) is from a Brisbane suburban solicitor. COALFACE CONCERNS “I enjoy your Real Estate Blog, and particularly the...
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by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.BSolicitorConsumer Advocate watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au The following tale was sent to me by a legal colleague. He described it as “a little anecdote” that he was sure I would enjoy. “My client owned a rental property that he leased through a local agent. The tenant wanted to purchase the property. They negotiated a price and my client then asked the tenant to speak to the managing agent about the matter. The agent...
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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 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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by Peter Mericka B.A., LL.BReal Estate Lawyer Qualified Practising Conveyancer VictoriaDirector Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd This is a comment submitted in response to the previous posting on this site. While I cannot help but be annoyed about the apparent weakness (personal and professional) of the lawyer who expresses it, it does seem to sum up the situation: “While I am proud to confirm that I am a legal practitioner, I cannot identify myself...
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