Be very careful!  I am in the process of writing a guide to the REIV Exclusive Sale Authority, exposing the nastiness of this document.  You will find that the property does not really have to be sold for the estate agent to become entitled to put his hand out for a commission.  Click on the following link to see what has been written so far: http://www.lawyersrealestate.com.au/dictionary_pages/exclusive.asp

Hi Peter,

Thank you for you response . What do you mean be "Very Careful" Our late Fathers lawyer/executor referred us to the Estate Agent even though we asked the lawyer/executor for several other agents to have a look at the property.We feel the agent did not act in our best interest as he accepted less than the 10% deposit without our approval and then when the prospective purchaser failed to settle the agent then approached other agents in the area to on sell it and split the commission! One of the agents that was approached has verified that he was approached by the agent & purchaser. The lawyer/executor advises us that it was too late to contact other prospective purchasers after the auction which is nonsense as people register & leave contact numbers. Much to my astonishment my late parents property the appeared back on the Web.
I only discovered  this by chance when I was looking at the web early one Sunday morning viewing what other properties were for sale in the same area. It came up with a drawing of plans for 2 Town Houses and the purchaser didn't even own the property! The time frame has now gone into CGT which was not our intention and is a complete debacle. The lawyer/executor informs us the the previous purchaser has been put on notice to recoup losses. I'm a bit lost as to our recourse with regards to the agent that we believe has acted in an extremely dishonourable and illegal manner.

Hopefully Peter you could enlighten and advise me of the next step to take.

Yours Sincerely,

Gabrielle 

 

 

Hi Gabrielle,

I was not aware that there is already a solicitor involved in the matter.  You should take the matter up with the solicitor and have the solicitor take the estate agent to task. 

Hi Peter,

Actually I personnally don't have a solicitor, my Fathers Solicitor/Executor handling the Estate is a friend of the agent that sold the property ( he originally recommended this agent). He also did not disclose that he was sharing the commission in the sale, fobbed us off for 3 months after the settlement date passed telling us that the purchaser was waiting for money to come in and whilst  telling us that, we later find out the the agent along with the purchaser were shopping around for another agent to on sell it for $750,000 whilst we still owned it.

He also signed off on the deposit of $20.000 on a sale of $675,000 without our approval. Less than 3%! Unacceptable. We feel that the Solicitor/Agent have colluded together possibly with the so called prospective purchaser.  If every Agent got commission on a sale falling through then what would the need
be to have such dodgy dealing Agents if they were to get commission no matter what! 

I do feel that the Solicitor/Executor and Agent  are both somewhat shonky. The Solicitor/Executor is all for the Agent to get the commission and he's supposed to be acting on behalf of my late Fathers wishes! Do you think 'A Current Affair" camera through their front door might help. I do have a contact at Channel 9 as I've helped them expose shonks before. I'm serious . Do you think I have any recourse with the Solicitor/Executor & Agent as well as the previous purchaser.

Kindest Regards,

Gabrielle 

Hi Gabrielle,

From what you have said I believe you should make immediate contact with the Legal Services Commissioner and lodge a formal complaint.

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your input, really appreciate it.

Kindest Regards,

Gabrielle