Conveyancing Solicitor Suspended

by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B
Queensland Solicitor & Consumer Advocate
watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au

Gold Coast solicitor Douglas McClelland, who charged conveyancing fees seven times higher than some other solicitors, has had his Practising Certificate suspended for four months.

While cut-price Queensland law firms currently advertise buyers’ fees from as low as $350, McClelland charged 27 clients buying investment properties $2,500 per transaction. After investigation by the Queensland Law Society for the Legal Service Commissioner, no disciplinary action was taken against him over high fees.

Rather McClelland faced a professional misconduct charge for sharing those fees from his law practice with an unqualified person between September 2003 and June 2004. The Legal Practice Tribunal found this charge established and, because of “the gravity of the misconduct involved”, (to quote Tribunal Chair Chief Justice Paul De Jersey) ordered McClelland to be suspended, to receive a public reprimand and to pay costs. A second charge of unprofessional conduct, relating to breaches of Section 365B of the Property Agents & Motor Dealers Act (non-disclosure to buyers about independence), was also established.

A well-placed legal source quipped that a four months suspension was “a bit light”. Twelve months would have been “more appropriate”.

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Note: For further information about real estate or conveyancing issues visit Lawyers Conveyancing

Trust This Agent With Your Money?

Would you trust an estate agent who is so desperate for cash as to resort to borrowing against future commissions?

What lengths would such an agent go to in order to prevent the loss of a sale if the commission has been spent in advance?



We have already commented on the concept of Commission Factoring in a previous posting, but it seems that more money lenders are getting into this apparently lucrative area.

V.I.P. Cashflow uses the above "empty pockets" image on its website to promote its service to estate agents, and recently sent the following email to estate agencies:

"Would you like your Sales Commission now?

Why wait 30, 60 or 90 days plus for your commission when you can have it NOW!

At VIP Cashflow we specialise in providing advance commissions to all Real Estate Agency’s and their Consultants.

VIP Cashflow is a new venture from VIP Home Service Group a name you can trust, established since 1972. You now have the opportunity to get your cash flowing and utilise your hard earned Commission, when you need it.

Access your commission within 24 hours!

To find out more about how VIP Cashflow can help build your business call 1300736676 or visit www.vipcashflow.com.au.

Yours Sincerely





P: 1300736676 (Anywhere in Australia) F : (08) 82697897 E: info@vipcashflow.com.au W:www.vipcashflow.com.au"

Continue reading "Trust This Agent With Your Money?"

Note: For further information about real estate or conveyancing issues visit Lawyers Conveyancing

Scouting Agents

by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B
Queensland Solicitor & Consumer Advocate
watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au


How to make a sale and collect a commission...when a property's NOT for sale!

The basic real estate rule across Australia is that a licensed agent is entitled to be paid commission on a property sale provided the owner has engaged the agent in writing for that purpose. It is not unknown for agents to make sales first, then later secure their sellers’ signatures to ensure entitlements to commission.

In Queensland, for instance, a real estate agent must not commence any selling activities for a client, nor collect a subsequent sales commission, unless both agent and client have first signed a government-prescribed form of appointment. The maximum fine for a breach of this three-year old law is $15,000, not to mention the more severe practical penalty of missing out on commission if the agent goes ahead and sells without being properly appointed. Not that this prevents some Sunshine State agents still trying to get paid for selling properties they are not lawfully authorised to sell – as the following true story shows.

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Note: For further information about real estate or conveyancing issues visit Lawyers Conveyancing

Scam! That Innocent Phone Call Offering To Help You

Currently, there are at least one hundred active wealth spruikers in Australia. All have one aim – to make themselves richer by making you poorer.


An article from the Jenman website.

Most use a similar method of enticement (or 'bait') to entice you into their lair. Their scams usually start with a phone call which will mention something that appeals to the average family – 'reduce tax', 'prepare for retirement', 'no obligation' – and so on.

So similar are these scam scripts (indeed the rogues who write them often move from one scam outfit to another) that we thought we'd reprint one for you.

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Note: For further information about real estate or conveyancing issues visit Lawyers Conveyancing

Long Overdue: Regulation Of Finance & Mortgage Brokers

by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B
Queensland Solicitor & Consumer Advocate
watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au


It has been almost two years since the release of the Ministerial Council of Consumer Affairs’ Discussion Paper detailing options for a national regulatory scheme for finance and mortgage brokers.

On Monday this week ABC Radio’s The World Today programme reported on what it described as “the miserable and sad end of the property boom in some Australian cities.”

Easy money and climbing interest rates had combined to deliver unprecedented rates of mortgage foreclosures, amid stories of locked-out homeowners and thousands of others hovering on the brink of losing their dream. One Western Sydney real estate agent spoke of loans being pushed: “You've got your no docs, your low docs…if you've got bad credit, don't worry, come and see us, all those things.

And we're seeing quite a few where the people just shouldn't have been borrowing the amount of money that they've borrowed.”

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Note: For further information about real estate or conveyancing issues visit Lawyers Conveyancing

Commission Factoring - A Dangerous Development

by Peter Mericka B.A., LL.B Real Estate Lawyer and
Qualified Practising Conveyancer
Victoria
Lawyers Real Estate

We have argued that real estate commissions are a major cause of corruption in the real estate industry. But what if the drive for commission is intensified? What if the estate agent has spent the commission in advance, and fears that the sale may collapse?

It is the common experience of lawyers and conveyancers that estate agents involve themselves in real estate contract matters when they have no right or reason to do so.

Commission rage is often a factor, as the tendency to meddle in contract matters appears to rise with the estate agent's need for money.

This flyer is being distributed to Melbourne estate agents, with the message,

"Why wait six weeks or more for commissions to be paid? It's your money, so get paid NOW!"

It appears that an estate agent can now spend the commission in advance.

Does this mean we can expect ever more desperate attempts by estate agents to control real estate contracts?

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Ultra-Low Deposits

by Tim O’Dwyer M.A., LL.B
Queensland Solicitor & Consumer Advocate
watchdog@argonautlegal.com.au


Every so often Target Stores have a 12.5%-off sale with “no deposit lay-bys”. As most keen shoppers know, sales are common but lay-bys without a deposit are unusual.

To purchase on lay-by you usually need to pay 10% of the price. If you have just $20.00 available, no more than $200.00 worth of goods will be “laid by” for you until you pay the balance.

Real estate sales in Queensland are supposed to work on a similar principle. But if you list your home for sale don’t be surprised if, sooner or later, you might be asked to put your property on lay-by. That is, under a contract where the buyer may have paid an initial deposit of – wait for it – yes, $20.00.

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Note: For further information about real estate or conveyancing issues visit Lawyers Conveyancing