A CRACKDOWN on ‘dodgy’ real estate practices has seen 16 agents from the Tweed Heads region slapped with 34 fines totalling $55,000 for underquoting and licence breaches.
The NSW Fair Trading investigation uncovered noncompliance, underquoting, breaches relating to unlicensed individuals and corporations, and misleading advertising in play, including one agent who did not have a licensee in charge.
“I absolutely will not tolerate these shonks taking consumers for a ride,” said Minister for Better Regulation Matt Kean.
Mr Kean said underquoting breaches included the use of prohibited terms such as ‘offers over’, ‘offers above’ and failures to identify a price range when advertising multi-unit developments.
“While buying a home is an exciting milestone it can also be a stressful experience — the last thing people need is to get ripped off by a dodgy operator,” Mr Kean said.
To read the full article by Anna Rawlings on News.com.au
