Hockingstuart Richmond admit to underquoting
The hockingstuart Richmond real estate agency has admitted it underquoted on property listings.
Hockingstuart Richmond was accused of 11 contraventions of Australian Consumer Law relating to deceptive conduct and misleading representations relating to land sale.
Tony Nolan QC, for the estate agency, told the Federal Court hockingstuart would be “admitting every fact” during the hearing yesterday. The sentence hearing gets underway next week.
The realAs website noted the agency has improved its price guidance as in June 2015 hockingstuart Richmond was inaccurately quoting properties by 22 percent on average, ie a $1,000,000 agent quoted house would typically sell for $1,228,000.
Now they are one of the most accurate quoters of property prices at 11 percent on average.
Hockingstuart issued a statement saying it took seriously its responsibility to accurately price properties.
“Our network of 50 offices successfully helps 20,000 Victorians buy and sell their homes each year so it is disappointing to see this outcome,” the statement said.
“As master franchisor, we are doing everything in our power to reduce the risk of this happening again.
"We have recently run a number of refresher courses in accurate pricing across the entire group and will continue to work with all offices to audit their sales files — ensuring this training has been embedded at all agent levels.”
The consumer watchdog’s half-year report noted 12 major underquoting investigations underway, but the CAV is yet to take legal action against any other agencies.
