1 September 2013
This could be the most ironic thing ever: real estate agents seeking to have property managers go through a registration process because undesirables and crooks might join the industry.
Is this the same REINZ that has steadfastly failed to monitor its own agents' property management dealings because they are not covered by the Real Estate Agents Act? Real estate agencies frequently run property management businesses alongside their property sales, and they almost always less professional and far less ethical than private property managers.
Quinovic and Crockers are the two highest-profile and biggest property management firms, and they are superbly well-run and ethical companies. Professional to a fault, they also do not charge a letting fee - unlike every real estate agency-owned property management firm. Charging letting fees is a cynical cash cow. Agencies retain 7-10% of the rent paid on properties every week, so charging money to someone for letting them rent it is money-grabbing and nothing else.
It gets much, much worse. Several real estate agencies have been found over-charging water rate bills in Auckland, blatantly and illegally charging tenants for non-metered charges. Others have been found to be going against REINZ's own position on how property managers are remunerated. The REINZ is quite certain that property managers should be salaried employees, and the more-ethical real estate firms abide by that, but there are still a majority of firms who choose to flout the law to take advantage of their employees, never having to pay one cent in holiday or sick leave.
I have irrefutable, documented proof of these statements - this is not something my wife's hairdresser's cousin's best friend said.
Real estate has many crooks in the own system, so registration is pointless, plus given the REAA's attitude to those rogue agents and the wet bus ticket punishments they hand out, having any form of registration where real estate agents are involved in the process would be a huge retrograde step.
Take a look at these easily-found examples of real estate agents' punishments received:
Joseph Brankin. Bullying employee. Fined $750-00
Scott Perry. Fraudulent representation. Fined $5000-00
John Lloyd. Forgery. Fined $750-00
Yes indeed, the self-regulating environment is something we really want to replicate.
Kudos to Minister of Justice, Chester Borrows, for not falling into line with the wishes of one of the most unscrupulous, devious, manipulative, and above, utterly worthless, occupations on the planet.
I say worthless advisedly, because with every contract being scrutinised by a solicitor before become unconditional, it wouldn't matter who sold a property. If anything, the government should be looking at de-registering land agents of all types, because the legislation clearly does not protect the public, but only serves to allow agencies to run a closed-shop industry.
Copyright © Alan Charman