Victoria needs tougher underquoting laws and enforcement: Miriam Sandkuhler
Consecutive Victorian governments have done nothing about real estate underquoting over the last decade, Miriam Sandkuhler, founder of buyer's agency Property Mavens says.
"The newly elected Victorian government is still mute in regards to this ongoing problem in Victoria," she told Fairfax Media.
"It seems the financial and indirect marketing support the Labor government received from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria during the election campaign last year has rendered it deaf and blind to the problem," she claimed noting the NSW Premier recently pledged a crackdown on rogue real estate agents.
"Underquoting is a bipartisan issue as it affects all consumers.
"Both sides of politics need to work together to develop a solution to this problem.
She claimed rogue agents who breached regulations often do so because they have an "exceptionally high chance" of getting away with illegal activity simply because Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) doesn't have adequate skilled staffing to police it or a satisfactory complaint handling process.
"Given this and the 30,000-plus auctions held in Victoria every year, the onus of investigation, policing and enforcement needs to be removed from CAV and handed to an independent body in the form of a real estate ombudsman."
