Consumer Affairs Victoria is urging a Bundoora couple who sold their house last month to contact it following allegations their real estate agent pressured them to change the agreed rate of commission.
The Bundoora woman, who does not want to be named, posted on a community Facebook group, warning members about her “bad experience” with a South Morang agent.
The woman and her partner sold their South Morang house at auction in late November and were pleased with the result.
But they say their real estate agent’s “unethical” tactics left a sour note.
On auction day the auctioneer, allegedly also a member of the company’s management team, asked “through smiles, excitement and nervous tension” if they would pay the company half of any price achieved above the reserve.
According to the women’s Facebook post, she and her partner thought he was joking.
“We laughed and said ‘sure’,” she wrote.
She alleges that after the auction, the auctioneer amended the contract to reflect that they had agreed to pay him 50 per cent above the reserve price as commission.
The couple refused to sign the document, saying it was an “off-the-cuff” comment.
When they confronted the South Morang company, they were allegedly told they wouldn’t be held to the agreement as they were “clearly uncomfortable with it”.
The woman said the agency told her it had struck the same agreement with vendors at least five times before.
Consumer Affairs Victoria director Claire Noone said commission arrangements were a matter of negotiation and were set out in the sales/auction authority before an auction campaign.
“Any changes to an authority after it has been signed must be initialled by both the seller and the agent to be binding on the parties,” she said.
Dr Noone urged any vendor who has felt pressured or forced to change their agreed commission to contact Consumer Affairs as soon as possible.
Consumer Affairs will not handle a dispute about commission unless it is given notice of the dispute within 28 days of the client receiving the account or notice that the agent has taken the amount in dispute.
Real Estate Institute of Victoria spokesman Paul Bird advised agents to have the agreed level of commission clearly outlined in the contract.
“If the level of commission, or some other aspects of the sale, such as the reserve price, change prior to the home being sold, the contract should be updated to reflect this and signed by the agent and vendor,” he said.
A representative of the real estate agency believed to be involved told Star Weekly he was unaware of the complaint.
