A builder who wants the agency to recommend him to vendors preparing homes for sale offers an agent concert tickets worth several hundred dollars. What should the agent do?
Correct Answer
D) Decline, since accepting could reasonably be seen to create a conflict of interest.
Section 53F of the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 prohibits a licence or certificate holder from requesting or accepting a gift or benefit in circumstances that could reasonably be seen as creating a conflict of interest. Exceptions cover gifts from the employer, thank-you gifts from clients under an agency agreement, and items below the prescribed value, which is well under the value of these tickets.
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- → A vendor has instructed her agent in writing not to pass on any offers below $850,000 (invented). Before exchange, a buyer makes a genuine written offer of $800,000. What does NSW law require of the agent?
- → At an open home, a buyer asks the selling agent whether the roof was replaced when the house was renovated. The agent does not know. What is the appropriate response?
- → A licensee in charge learns that one of the sales agents routinely leaves the estimated selling price out of agency agreements. Under Schedule 1, what is the licensee in charge's obligation?
- → A buyer asks the agent selling a house to also act as her buyer's agent for that same house, for a separate fee. What does the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 say?
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- → To win a listing on her preferred terms, an agent tells the owner that NSW law makes a 90-day exclusive period compulsory in every sale listing. It does not. What has she done?
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