Consumer protection

A few years ago there was hardly any protection for buyers or sellers in Queensland.

Over the past few years consumer protection, maybe while still not perfect, it has increased enormously in a number of ways especially for buyers in Queensland.

A few years ago almost anyone could get a licence to sell real estate in Queensland,
just go and answer 10 questions at the office of fair trading and you get a licence.

It was even easier to get employed, it was an "in joke" that the only criteria to get employed by a real estate agency in the 90's was to breath on a mirror and if there was even just a tiny bit of fog to show you were alive, you got the job.

Times have certainly changed, the industry has become stricter and more professional.
In the year 2000 the PAMD act was created to help regulate the industry, the REIQ helped to educate with membership, and the office of fair trading brought in salespersons registration, which saw salespeople needing to pass 5 modules of their full licence just to be able to talk to people about real estate, furthermore salespeople must be vetted for criminal and financial stablity.

The cost of both the course and the cost of licence is a substantial investment both in monetary terms and time.
The office of fair trading continues to use ensure that it is harder for people without the right attitude to enter the industry and to serve the needs of consumers.

Not just the type of people entering the industry have changed but also the rules

For the buyer

Before entering into a contract the agent must show the buyer the warning statement "form 30c" this informs you of your legal rights and informs you that you have a 5 day cooling off period in which to cancel the contract, for any reason, in fact for no reason at all, however there is a small to discourage continiuously entering and canceling contracts.

Before entering into a contract the agent must show the buyer selling agents disclosure to buyer "form  27c" to disclose "all" the commission and fees or benefits the agent is receiving. The 27c also discloses any relationship between the seller and the agent such as family, regular business associate etc. This gives the buyer proof of what is being earned by the agent, if fees are abnormally large maybe the property may be overpriced. 

If the property is strata titled before entering into a contract the agent must show the buyer, the body corporate disclosure statement. The body corporate statement is a legal statement to the financial condition of the body corporate, required by law so the you can view and are not misled to fees or future increases of fees.

 
For the seller

The office of fair trading is outlawing verbal appraisals to protect property owners from the unethical behavior of agents buying listings. An owner asks for a market appraisal, instead they get a figure based on what it will take for the owner to give the agent the listing, not an actual “true market value” proved or demonstrated to come from facts.
This leads to a number of problems for the owner and the property itself.

For more information click on the link below