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Disclosure Obligations

This case involved two charges of misconduct brought against a licensee.

The Complaints Assessment Committee (CAC) claimed that the licensee failed to inform all potential purchasers that a property that she was marketing was affected by scheduled road widening. The CAC also claimed that she retrospectively added or expanded entries to her diary relating to the marketing of the property to show that she had disclosed the road widening project to potential purchasers and her work colleagues.

Facts:
Disclosure: The licensee conducted opens homes from early January to 06 February 2016 when a resident of the neighbouring property informed her of the road widening project. The project meant that 107m2 would be taken off from the front yard and would significantly affect the value of the property.

The property was sold by way of auction on 06 February 2016 to Mr. S who was represented by another licensee at the auction. The property was renovated and on 2 July 2016, the property was subject to an auction. The successful bidders withdrew their offer after discovering that the project was going to significantly affect the property.

Mr. S claimed that he suffered a financial loss of $160,000 which included renovation costs being $40,000, holding and marketing costs of the property and the diminished value of the property.

Mr. S claimed that he only learned of the project after marketing the property for sale. The Licensee claimed that once she discovered that the road-widening project was going to take place, she informed all open home attendees and her work colleagues about the changes.

The licensee’s colleagues could not recall her mentioning the road changes and neither could the other licensee who represented Mr. S. Some open home attendees clearly recalled her mentioning the road changes however, some could not recall her informing them.

Diary Entries: Entries in the licensee’s diaries claimed that she had informed all parties of the road changes. It was also claimed that the transaction report was altered by the licensee by way of adding the disclosure of the project.

Findings: The Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal found that the licensee had not upheld her disclosure obligations and accepted that the licensee had not informed all relevant persons. The Tribunal found that the licensee was seriously incompetent and seriously negligent in carrying out real estate agency work.

The Tribunal believed that the diary entries had been added to cover her failure to fully inform the prospective purchasers of the changes. The Tribunal found that the licensee had used a different pen when mentioning the road changes in the transaction report and that it was more likely than not that she had added the disclosure after the complaint.

The Tribunal accordingly found her guilty of disgraceful conduct. Both charges were proved, and the licensee was found guilty of misconduct.

Click here for the decision.

Verifiable Training

Queenstown Verifiable Training
Wednesday 20 & Thursday 21 March
Registration deadline Thursday 14 March - a $50 per person late fee will apply after this date.

Auckland Verifiable Training
Wednesday 3 & Thursday 4 April
Registration deadline Thursday 28 March - a $50 per person late fee will apply after this date.

Christchurch Workshop - Defective EQC repairs
Wednesday 3 April
Issues, red flags, and protecting yourself.

REINZ welcomes back Tom Panos

Modern Agent 2020! Wellington - Friday 17 May - Check out the poster

Note: Tom will also be presenting in Christchurch in 2019 - Info to come

REINZ presents the Anti-Money Laundering Roadshow - Part 2!

Practical, hands-on and detailed training. Check out the poster
Find your suitable session and book now.

Fresh Starter Auctioneering Course

A 2-day training course suitable for those who have called under 10 auctions or none at all!
An interactive, fun and lively session for those who want more practice and training that will also add 7.0 non-verifiable hours. Book now

Verifiable Dates for 2019

Sector Events

South Island Rural Seminar
Tuesday 26 March, 10am - 2.30pm
REINZ is returning to West Melton on Tuesday 26 March for a four hour South Island rural seminar the day before the start of South Island Agricultural Field Days in Kirwee.

Join MC Paul Cunneen to listen to a range of speakers deliver bespoke content to the rural sector. A panel of successful rural & lifestyle agents will share their vision on how to ‘Get your rural business engaged for the new financial year’.

Enjoy this unique networking opportunity with wider colleagues and other brands and earn 4.0 non-verifiable hours.

Commercial & Industrial Breakfast
Wednesday 10 April, 7.30am - 10am
REINZ is excited to have Rod Marler (Panuku Development Auckland), Stephen Selwood (Infrastructure New Zealand), Chris Cunniffe (Tax Management New Zealand) Cameron Bagrie (Bagrie Economics) and Lisa Gerrard (REINZ) speaking with us for our 2019 Commercial and Industrial Breakfast held at the Maritime Room, Auckland.

For all REINZ Events, visit the Education Portal.

Upcoming Feature: Company Documents in eForms

The ability to upload and attach office documents to an eForms template is a feature that has been requested by REINZ members.

With the new “Company documents” feature, you will be able to load your documents into your eForms account and attach them to your templates in a matter of a few clicks!

The feature is currently undergoing final testing and will be released next week.

Watch the video here.

Visit the REINZ eForms Platform now!

Changes to REINZ's real time data

Approximately 50% of REINZ’s sales data is now captured in real time, thanks to our members.

Agencies that submit their sales throughout the month are contributing to a data-rich environment, where they can access the most up-to-date data available.

We would love to see more members submitting their returns in real time. To incentivise this movement towards a live database and in the interest of fairness to those already submitting in real time, agencies are now required to submit a return in order to access the current month’s sales.

As always, sales for the month prior will be available to all members early in the following month.

This is a timely reminder to all members with access to real time data – as per point 4.1.3 (b) in the REINZ Statistics Authorised User Agreement, members are not to release any REINZ Statistics or other information prior to its formal release by REINZ.

Will New Zealand's market follow Australia's?

Bindi Norwell, REINZ Chief Executive spoke with NZ Herald about New Zealand’s housing market, and whether it will follow what we are seeing in Australia on Focus Live.

Watch the full piece here.

Auckland City Mission CookOff

Bindi Norwell is taking part in the Auckland City Mission CookOff this March, to help prepare a meal for 200 families in need.

The Auckland City Mission has set a goal for Bindi to raise $10,000 to go towards their ongoing emergency food packages. We would sincerely appreciate any support you can offer by donating here.

REINZ works in partnership with NetYourJob recruitment to provide maximum industry coverage when you’re looking for real estate staff. NetYourJob can provide REINZ Members with competitive marketing rates for job advertising. Contact NetYourJob on 0800 638 968 to find out more or click here to view new jobs this week.