Bayley Corporation Ltd, which is the parent company of Bayleys Real Estate Ltd, has been ordered to pay $2.2 million by the High Court for price fixing.
An associated company, Success Realty Ltd, a Hamilton-based company that operates under the Bayleys' banner, has been ordered to pay $900,000 on the same charges.
The penalties were imposed after the Commerce Commission filed High Court charges for breaches of the Commerce Act following an investigation into alleged price fixing and anti-competitive agreements among several real estate agencies.
The investigation and subsequent charges related to the way several real estate companies and individuals responded when Trade Me announced a new pricing arrangement for property advertising on its website.
Both Bayley Corporation and Success Realty admitted breaching the Commerce Act and both reached settlements with the Commission over the matter.
In imposing the penalties at the High Court, Justice Patricia Courtney acknowledged the seriousness of the conduct and its potential to affect a large number of transactions for residential properties.
Another 10 real estate agencies, Property Page Ltd and three individuals are still facing related court proceedings brought by the Commerce Commission.
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7 Comments
I am afraid to point out the obvious, the "Buyer " in NZ pays the fees out of the money they often overpay to the 'Seller"..so the Agents additionally have a vested interest in getting as much money as possible out of the sucker buyer, as they are also on a sliding scale of fees, often over 4%, in NZ, where others around the world, can pay way less and even a fixed fee. Hence why houses are often a better bargain.
Stamp fees..not with standing...of course., maybe on top as they are a different matter.
I'd just about trust a politician before I'd trust a RE Agent, both sides clip the ticket telling elaborate stories.
I would place RE Agents as the least desirable people to walk the planet!! They go to the RE Agent school to master the art of stalking emotions and this behaviour should be considered as misinforming and being unfair on a buyer!!!
The fact is they write nonsense on houses that would be better inside the pages of a Mills and Boon!! Do these agents really believe the drivel they write?
I have an email back from a RE Agent on a complaint I filed last week on their advertising material......a little extract from their reply "Marketing is my forte and marketing is designed to create inbound inquiry" said the Agent..... and then a second email "I am also a believer if the home is even slightly what they are looking for they will come through and have a look or at least ask for more information. If they don't come through or ask for a private then it can be safe to assume they are not the emotional buyer for that specific home." Said the Agent..........the fact is RE Agents want desperate buyers as they will be more pliable emotionally than other buyers.......this should be considered to be exploitation!.........Only an agent knows if they have two or more interested parties to a sale and we all know that this leads to the emotional playing people off while pushing prices higher which is price rigging that is not recognised by anyone including Comcom.........
What are the first words out of an Agents mouth upon meeting a potential buyer? They ask "What are you after? Or is it for yourself to live in, or a rental blah, blah, this is extracting information unfairly from a buyer as most people thanks to Nanny State give out their reason for visiting a property....befriending buyers to extract information allows all sorts of favourable financial circumstances for an agent........the agent is working for themselves (we are all fooling ourselves if we think it is the vendor or the buyer they are acting for) and they have basically been given a license to price rig an entire economy..........this is regulation at its worst!
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