Changes being made to property advertising rules are making headlines today, but the group representing Hunter's Real Agent says it will not greatly affect the industry.
The New South Wales Upper House has passed laws precluding specialists from utilizing terms such as 'offers above' or 'offers over' in their land promoting, or underquoting a cost expected at auction, ABC reported.
The agents were found guilty of underquoting, which could forfeit any commission earned from a property sale since Jan. 1, 2016. "No, not really, " said Wayne Stewart from the Hunter division of the Real Estate Institute. He added that he does not consider underquoting as the main problem or issue in the Hunter.
The tenant charges and fee requirement were made more clearly and visibly however follows complaint. It says that the property rentals did not include a 'compulsory administration charge' and that it is misleading. The complaint impacted many rental adverts and the Advertising Standards Authority upheld the complaint. It took a couple of months respectively to have private landlords and professionals agree a way forward.
"Look, I have been in this for a long time and I really haven't seen a property sell for more than a buyer was prepared to pay, or for less than a vendor was prepared to take. I always believe that it is a fair negotiation in the end," Mr. Stewart.
"Hopefully it is just going to bring a bit more clarity in the marketplace. I thought in the past, the biggest problem has just been ambiguous. There hasn't been any clear guidelines from the Office of Fair Trading and what this will do is give clear guidelines to agents as to what they can and can't do," added Mr. Stewart.
The agents have already disclosed the anticipated sale price to their various clients based on the agreement made by the agency, Telegraph reported.
