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?
Correct Answer
C) Get the answer from the vendor or refer the buyer to an expert
NSW Fair Trading guidance on misrepresentation states that if a buyer asks a question and the agent knows the answer, the agent must answer frankly and fully. If the agent does not know, they should obtain the information from the vendor or refer the person to their conveyancer or a relevant expert. An agent is generally liable for a misrepresentation whether or not they knew it was false.
Why This Is the Correct Answer
Finding out from the vendor or referring the buyer avoids a misleading answer while still helping the buyer.
Why the Other Options Are Wrong
Background Knowledge for Ethics Compliance
Exam Tip for Ethics Compliance
Common Mistakes to Avoid on Ethics Compliance Questions
More Ethics Compliance Questions
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?
NSW Fair Trading suspects an agent's recorded estimated selling prices are unrealistically low. Since 29 June 2026, which step can it take about those estimates?
A NSW agent's marketing emails recommend a mortgage broker as 'independent', but the broker pays the agent a fee for each referral. What do the rules of conduct require?
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?
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- → An agent tells an elderly owner she must sign an agency agreement tonight or lose every buyer, then phones her repeatedly after 10 pm when she hesitates. Which Schedule 1 rule is most clearly breached?
- → 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?
- → An assistant agent's sister wants to buy a house that the assistant's employing agency has been retained to sell. How does s 49 of the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 apply?
- → As at October 2026, what is the maximum court penalty for a corporation convicted of dummy bidding at a NSW residential auction?
- → As at October 2026, an individual NSW agent holds client deposits in her personal account instead of the trust account. What maximum court penalty applies to her for mishandling trust money?
- → As at October 2026, what new maximum court penalty applies to a NSW agent or assistant agent who does not meet the continuing professional development requirements?
- → In New South Wales, what must an agent give a client before the client signs an agency agreement for the sale of residential property?
- → 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?
- → 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?
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As at September 2026, which change made by the Property and Stock Agents Amendment (Underquoting and Other Agent Conduct) Act 2026 is already in force?
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