An agent is paid a monthly consulting fee by a developer who wants to buy a particular block cheaply. The owner of that block asks the agent to sell it. What should the agent do?
Correct Answer
D) Decline the appointment, because her interests conflict with the owner's interests.
Rule 11 of Schedule 1 says an agent must not accept an appointment, or continue to act, if doing so places the agent's interests in conflict with a client's interests. Fair Trading's summary adds that agents must not enter commercial arrangements that put their interests before their clients'.
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NSW Fair Trading serves a notice to show cause on an agent over alleged breaches of the rules of conduct. How long must the notice give the agent to respond?
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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?
- → After a NSW residential auction where the property was passed in, the vendor asks the agent for a copy of the Bidders Record so he can phone the underbidders himself. How should the agent respond?
- → A buyer asks the vendor's agent for the lowest price the vendor has said she would accept. The vendor has not authorised the agent to reveal it. What should the agent do?
- → 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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- → After settlement, a delighted vendor drops off a case of good wine for her selling agent to thank him for his work on the sale. May he keep it under the gifts provision, s 53F?
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An agent hands a buyer the agency’s expression of interest statement form to sign before accepting her deposit. When must the agent give the buyer a copy of the signed statement?
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An agent recommends a home stylist to a vendor, calling the stylist 'completely independent'. The stylist pays the agent 10% of every fee she earns from referred clients. What does Schedule 1 require?