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The NSW liberal and national opposition has urged the state government to impose harsher penalties against agents found guilty of underquoting, slamming NSW Fair Trading’s enforcement record.
The opposition argues that despite rising reports of underquoting, NSW Fair Trading has failed to successfully prosecute any agents or impose the maximum penalty of $22,000.
Earlier in August, NSW Fair Trading alleged Josh Tesolin and his consultancy might have underquoted more than 100 residential properties, engaged in dummy bidding, and breached professional conduct rules.
Tim James MP, shadow minister for fair trading, said that existing measures offered “no real deterrent” to agents engaging in corrupt conduct.
“Fair Trading has favoured warnings and small fines, with not a single successful prosecution and the maximum penalty of $22,000 having never been imposed,” he said.
“Under the Minns Labor government, reports of underquoting have continued to rise and the Fair Trading taskforce on underquoting has yet to deliver any meaningful results in actually deterring this behaviour.”
James said the government’s inaction left home buyers at the mercy of misleading price guides, compounding the difficulty of purchasing a property during a housing affordability crisis.
“House hunting is already tough enough in the current housing crisis without having to navigate misleading price guides designed solely to drum up interest,” James said.
It led the opposition spokesperson to call for harsher penalties: “The Minns government needs to step up and stop dragging its feet. We need to step up enforcement with penalties that actually deter bad behaviour and put an end to the cycle where underquoting is just another cost of doing business.”
NSW Fair Trading commissioner Natasha Mann said the suspension of Tesolin’s licences reflected the seriousness of the alleged contraventions and reinforced the importance of maintaining public confidence.
“NSW Fair Trading has an increased regulatory focus on professional misconduct by NSW real estate agents,” Mann said.
“Agents must keep up-to-date with their professional responsibilities and act in accordance with the law at all times.”
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