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Making A Complaint Against A Real Estate Agent

This document provides information on how to make a complaint about a real estate agent in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It explains that complaints about an agent's professional conduct can be submitted to the ACT Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which investigates breaches of the Agents Act 2003. The document outlines the process for submitting a complaint to the OFT and the types of conduct that can be complained about, including breaches of the Rules of Conduct for agents. It also notes that obtaining an order from the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal related to an agent's conduct can strengthen a complaint to the OFT.

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Carmen Domínguez Rodríguez
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187 views2 pages

Making A Complaint Against A Real Estate Agent

This document provides information on how to make a complaint about a real estate agent in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It explains that complaints about an agent's professional conduct can be submitted to the ACT Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which investigates breaches of the Agents Act 2003. The document outlines the process for submitting a complaint to the OFT and the types of conduct that can be complained about, including breaches of the Rules of Conduct for agents. It also notes that obtaining an order from the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal related to an agent's conduct can strengthen a complaint to the OFT.

Uploaded by

Carmen Domínguez Rodríguez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Making a Complaint about

your Real Estate Agent


Your
real
estate
agent
is
behaving badly and you want to
complain about that behaviour.
Making a complaint is different
from taking a dispute to the ACT
Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
You can do both and perhaps
help other tenants...
Real Estate Agents in the ACT are regulated by
the Agents Act 2003 and the Agents Regulation
2003. The Regulation includes Rules of
Conduct that bind all real estate agents. The
Office of Regulatory Services runs the Office of
Fair Trading (OFT) which has the enforcement
and compliance role in relation to this Act.
If you are in public housing there is a separate
complaints process you can use (see Welfare
Rights & Legal Centre for assistance).
If your landlord manages your tenancy
themselves without an agent, the Office of Fair
Trading can only investigate very limited types
of complaints, eg rent bidding.

How is a complaint different from a dispute?


As noted in other Tenancy Factsheets, your
tenancy is regulated by the Residential
Tenancies Act 1997. This sets out the rules by
which your tenancy operates.
Problems in tenancies are usually disputes
arising out of breaches of these rules. If you
want an order redressing a breach (such as
getting repairs done, getting compensation, or
limiting access) then the Tribunal is where you
should be going. You can refer to other
Tenancy Factsheets for details in relation to
specific issues.
If your issue relates to complaints about the
professional behaviour of your agent, or the
policies or procedures the agency is employing
in managing your tenancy (and possibly other
tenancies) then the OFT may be able to
address the problem.

What can I complain about?


The Rules of Conduct cover the behaviour of
licensed agents and registered salespeople in

the ACT in relation to their work. Tenants are able to


make a complaint as a customer of an agent, rather
than as a client, since landlords are the clients.
The Rules of Conduct for real estate agents form Part
8.2 of Schedule 8 of the Agents Regulation 2003. A
complaint should be able to identify which of the rules
is being breached.

The Real Estate Agent Rules of Conduct


The sections relevant to tenants are noted below:
S 8.2 Knowledge of Act and other laws
An agent must have a knowledge and understanding of the
Act, and any other laws relevant to the kind of licence or
certificate of registration held (including laws relating to
residential tenancy, fair trading, trade practices, antidiscrimination and privacy) that may be necessary to allow
the agent to lawfully exercise his or her functions as agent.
S 8.4 Honesty, fairness and professionalism
1) An agent must act honestly, fairly and professionally
with all parties in a transaction.
2) An agent must not mislead or deceive any parties in
negotiations or a transaction.
S 8.5 Skill, care and diligence

An agent must exercise reasonable skill, care and diligence.


S8.6 High pressure tactics, harassment or

unconscionable conduct
An agent must not engage in high pressure tactics,
harassment or harsh or unconscionable conduct.

S8.8 Confidentiality

An agent must not, at any time, use or disclose any


confidential information obtained while acting on behalf of a
client or dealing with a customer, unless
a) the client or customer consents to the disclosure; or
b) the agent is permitted or compelled by law to disclose the
information.
S8.10 To act in accordance with clients instructions

An agent must act in accordance with a clients instructions


unless it would be contrary to the Act or otherwise unlawful
to do so.

S8.18 Representations about Act

1)

An agent must not falsely represent to a person the


nature or effect of a provision of the Act.
An agent must not, either expressly or impliedly, falsely
represent, whether in writing or otherwise, to a person

1)

that a particular form of agency agreement or any term


of the agreement is required by the Act.

S8.34 Maintenance or repairs of rental property


1) An agent managing a rental property must promptly
respond to and, subject to the principals instructions,
attend to all requests by a tenant, for maintenance of,

or repairs to, the property.


2) If the principal has given an instruction that a repair not
be carried out, the agent must tell the principal if the
principals failure to carry out the repair would constitute
a breach of any tenancy agreement in force in relation
to the property.
S8.37 Final inspection of property

An agent must take all reasonable steps to ensure that any


final inspection of the property, on vacation of the property,
is conducted in the presence of the tenant, unless otherwise
authorised by the tenant.

S 8.38 Obtaining tenants signature for rental bond

refund
An agent must not solicit or obtain the signature of a tenant
to any document relating to the refund of a rental bond
before the termination of the tenancy, unless the document
directs that the bond be repaid in full to the tenant or
transferred to another tenancy in accordance with the
tenants directions.

Who is the agent representing?


To understand where the agents loyalty first lies be
aware of:
S8.7. To act in clients best interests.
An agent must act in the clients best interest at all times
unless it would be contrary to the Act or otherwise unlawful
to do so.

The clients (landlords) best interest does not always


mirror the tenants (customers) best interest.

MAKING A COMPLAINT
The Office of Fair Trading
The OFT has a complaints process that is open to all
consumers, including tenants. The Advice and
Complaints Unit can be contacted on 6207 0400
from 8:30am to 4:30pm Mon - Fri.
If the unit considers that a complaint made through
their advice line requires investigating they may
request a formal written complaint. This will allow the
unit to commence its enquiries.
If you have difficulty getting through to the advice
line, dont panic. All formal written complaints are
considered for further investigation. You can send a
written complaint to:

ACT Office of Fair Trading, GPO Box 158, CANBERRA


ACT 2601
For more information and other contact details, go to:
www.ors.act.gov.au
The OFT has wide ranging powers and can take action
against offending agents in a multitude of ways:
anything from contacting the agent for the purposes
of re-education, issuing a warning, or referral to the
Tribunal for formal disciplinary action.
The action that the OFT takes will depend on the
nature and severity of the breach, the particular
history of the agent/agency involved, and the
potential for consumer detriment arising out of the
conduct in question. The OFT is more likely to act
when they have received multiple complaints about
the same agency or property manager, so your
complaint could make a difference.

Going to the Tribunal before making a


complaint to OFT
The OFT is more likely to act on your complaint if you
have written evidence that your agent breached the
rules of conduct. Orders from the Tribunal would be
persuasive evidence.
So, if you are going to the Tribunal for other orders,
you can explain that you want to make a complaint to
the OFT and you want the Tribunal to address specific
questions and include the answers as findings
in their written orders. The Tribunal wont do this
unless you ask them tomake sure they understand.
Examples of relevant questions are:

Did the agent access the premises unlawfully


and was the landlord ordered to pay
compensation for it?

Did you have to pay the fee that the agent said
you had to pay?

Did you have to do a certain thing (eg: sign a


clause, keep paying rent after you moved out,
allow extra access) which the agent said you
had to do?

Did the landlord have to do repairs which the


agent said they didnt have to do?

Tenants' Advice Service 6247 2011 free legal advice for all ACT renters (tenants and occupants)
Tenants' Union (ACT) ......................... ...6247 1026 publications, information, workshops, law reform and
news on renting issues
www.tenantsact.org.au
Welfare Rights and Legal Centre...6247 2177 free legal advice and assistance for low income tenants
www.welfarerightsact.org
Office of Regulatory Services (Bonds) .. ...6207 1178 bond lodgement, return and inquiries
(Fair Trading)......6207 0400 complaints against real estate agents
www.ors.act.gov.au
ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal .. ...6207 1740 dispute resolution and enforcement of tenancy legislation
www.acat.act.gov.au
Housing ACT information line .6207 1150 ACT public housing enquiries
www.dhcs.act.gov.au/hcs
Tenancy Factsheet February 2011, Tenants Union ACT Inc.
The support of the ACT Government through the Dept. Justice & Community Safety is gratefully acknowledged

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