It’s a wrap: reviewing the last year of REA complaints

The number of formal complaints REA received decreased again in 2019/20. For the year 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020, REA received 286 complaints — down from 296 the previous year.

This page was published on 10 August 2020.

Complaint outcomes

Of the 258 complaints closed in the 2019/20 year, about 50% were resolved through REA’s early resolution process.

The average time to resolve a complaint through this process was 51 days.

Our early resolution team saw a variety of agreements reached to resolve complaints, like:

  • a $5,000 contribution towards connecting a section to an electricity supply
  • changes to an agency's policy about dealing with client referrals
  • a contribution of $500 towards repairing a heat pump
  • a donation to a charity of the complainant’s choice, and an apology
  • waiving the agency’s right to claim commission for a subsequent sale and an apology and change to the agency’s process.

In 14 cases, the Registrar decided not to consider the complaint further under section 74(3) of the Act — either because the subject matter of the complaint was 'inconsequential', or because the complaint was referred to a more appropriate agency.

Of the complaints considered by a Complaints Assessment Committee (CAC) in the 2019/20 year:

  • 64 complaints resulted in a finding of no further action against a licensee
  • 37 complaints resulted in a finding of unsatisfactory conduct against a licensee.

Three complaints about licensees were determined to fall outside the scope of REA and were not looked into.

Misconduct decisions

In the 2019/20 year, the Tribunal made 10 findings of misconduct against licensees. Misconduct decisions are available on the Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal website(external link).

These were some of the reasons for the findings of misconduct:

Top issues raised as complaints

When we receive a complaint, we ‘tag’ this with information about the issue or issues the complainant has raised – for example, non-disclosure or misleading advertising. Each complaint may have one or more ‘tags’.

The graph below shows the number of times the top seven issues appeared in a complaint in the 12 months from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020.

 

Keep reading to learn more about the type of complaints we might see falling under each tag.

Licensee conduct: Representations

Representation complaints happen when a licensee has allegedly given out information about a property that is wrong or misleading — this could either be verbally or in writing.

For example, if a licensee were to say that property has a Master Build guarantee when it doesn’t, or that the property has sea views when that isn’t true.

This is the most common issue by far in complaints in the last 12 months, and is linked to the seventh most common issue of misleading marketing/advertising.

Learn more about rules for marketing properties.

Fiduciary obligations: Best interests of vendor

Complaints that fall into this category are commonly made by the vendor. They include an allegation that a licensee has acted in a way that wasn’t in the best interests of the seller.

For example, telling potential buyers that the vendor would accept an offer of $700,000 when the licensee knows they won’t accept less than $850,000.

Disclosure: Rule 6.4

Rule 6.4 is about information that 'by law or in fairness' should have been given to a customer or client.

These complaints are usually about issues with a property that are not physical defects covered under Rule 10.7.

This could be not telling a buyer that the neighbour has consent to build a three-storey property right up against the back fence, or that a suicide has occurred recently in a property.

Learn more about disclosing sensitive issues(external link).

Customer service: Licensee professionalism

Complaints about licensee professionalism usually involve poor communication.

For example, this could be a lack of communication, slow responses from the licensee, or inappropriate communication (like rude language).

Over the past 12 months, we’ve also seen an increase in complaints about inappropriate comments licensees have made on their personal Facebook page. 

Licensee conduct: Undue pressure

Complaints about undue pressure are when the complainant felt the licensee pressured them into making a decision that they might not have otherwise made.

An example of this might be a vendor saying they felt pressured into signing an agency agreement because the licensee repeatedly told them that the market was going to crash and that the value of their property would fall drastically.

Another example might be a licensee telling a buyer that there was another person interested in the property when there was not, and the buyer feeling pressured to increase their offer. This would also raise an issue of the licensee making misleading statements.

Disclosure: Rule 10.7

These are complaints about a licensee not telling the buyer about a defect with a property, for example, earthquake damage or a leak in the house.

Non-disclosure of defects was once the top reason for complaints made to REA, but the volume of complaints received for this reason has fallen steadily in recent years.

Learn more about disclosing defects(external link).

Marketing/advertising: Misleading

These complaints are about licensees including written statements in marketing material that are misleading.

An example might be a marketing claim that the property has sea views, when you can really only see the sea from the ensuite bathroom, and only if you’re very tall.

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