Bay property rort

A Napier real-estate agent has been found guilty of knocking down the price of two units to almost half their asking price in an attempt to buy the properties himself. For that his firm was fined the maximum by the industry - $750 - on each of three charges.
The matter was handled by a Real Estate Institute investigation subcommittee, which found that the agent, Graeme Sawyer, acted unethically and unfairly over the sale on behalf of Deb Leask, who wanted $400,000 for her flats. Mr Sawyer is a former Napier senior sergeant.
The agent's actions as well as the modest fine have outraged the seller, Ms Leask. "I want these bastards crucified," she said from Queensland yesterday.
"This is totally dishonest. The institute tried to cover it up and took two years to deal with this matter because I live in Australia.
"They thought I'd go away. The institute is not competent to investigate its own members."
Ms Leask is asking Associate Justice Minister Clayton Cosgrove to investigate the institute with a view to better procedures for complaints and harsher penalties for agents.
The case comes at a time the industry has been facing calls to clean up its act. Rules governing agents' behaviour were set 30 years ago, and even the industry agrees the maximum fines are inadequate.
Critics also want an end to behind-closed-doors disciplining of agents. Under the rules, the disciplinary action is handled by the estate agents' membership organisation.
Mr Sawyer's agency, CD Realty, trading as Bayleys Napier, pleaded guilty to three separate offences and was fined the maximum $750 on each count.
Ms Leask said Mr Sawyer, at the time the sales manager of listing agency Bayleys Napier , had tried to buy her two units at 4/74 and 5/74 The Esplanade at a massive discount. But he failed to declare he was the person attempting to buy them - and at such a low price. She subsequently sold the properties for $369,000 through Harveys of Napier.
The situation arose after she listed the townhouses for $400,000 with Mr Sawyer's colleague, John Payne, at Bayleys Napier. The institute found both men had broken institute rules.
Mr Payne listed the units at $230,000 - not much more than half Ms Leask's asking price. Mr Sawyer told her he had a registered valuation of $230,000 when no such valuation had been obtained.
The agency failed to enter $400,000 on a listing agreement and substituted the knockdown price of $250,000. The institute said Mr Sawyer tried to buy the property himself. Mr Sawyer, now working at Property Brokers in Napier, said yesterday he did not want to discuss the deal.
"I deny I tried to buy her place for half the asking price. It was not me that was taken to the institute but the firm, although there were some errors made by staff," he said. Eoin Carty, the licensee in charge of Bayleys Napier, said the matter was complicated.
"It would take me half an hour to explain all this because it was a comedy of errors. The institute wanted to give us a slap on the wrist."
Asked about the meagre fine, Mr Carty said money was not the issue: "It's more the principle of the thing. We don't like our name to be muddied."
The vendor's father, Bernie Leask, of Napier, said he wanted action to ensure people were protected.
Mr Sawyer was in the police for 29 years, set up the country's first Interpol office and was involved in criminal intelligence and anti-terrorism units. He was the Bay search-and-rescue co-ordinator for 12 years and has been involved in the real-estate industry for 13 years. _ NZ Herald