KEY POINTS:
Two senior real estate figures yesterday accepted reforms which will gut their industry body and give home buyers redress when they are ripped off.
Associate Justice Minister Clayton Cosgrove has proposed setting up an independent body with investigative powers to better protect consumers.
He was unapologetic about taking away compulsory membership of the Real Estate Industry Institute of New Zealand and setting up another body to fulfil its key roles.
"I think the message out there that the community has given us is pretty simple, that they want protection.
"I think this sets a platform for reinventing confidence in this industry. If you are a shonky land shark out there today, you now become an endangered species. My advice is go and look for another occupation, there are plenty of them."
Mr Cosgrove said it was "sad" that good real estate agents' reputations were hurt by others.
Murray Cleland, the institute's president, said most of the changes were well targeted and came as no surprise.
The Real Estate Agents Act 1976 was badly out of date and prevented the institute from imposing fines above $750, he said.
The institute had reviewed its code of ethics, engaging former Consumers' Institute chief David Russell, Mr Cleland said. His report on proposed changes would go to the institute's national council on June 20.
Bryan Thomson, chief executive of the country's largest agency, Harcourts, backed the changes but said it was the fourth time a Government had promised to overhaul the 1976 act.
He hoped Mr Cosgrove would succeed where other ministers had failed.
More transparency was needed in the disciplinary area, he said, and introducing ongoing compulsory training was another good point.
But he disagreed with axing compulsory institute membership, saying the sector needed one industry body to represent it.
One industry chief, however, was less than impressed, accusing the Government of weighing down the sector with unnecessary bureaucracy and exposing consumers.
Paul Slatin, chief executive of the 105-agency First National Real Estate, said the proposal to scrap compulsory membership would do little to raise the bar of professionalism.
The change was pointless, he said, and agents should stay in the institute.
"Membership of the institute guarantees that the agent who a consumer deals with is qualified, subscribes to codes of ethics and practice and is informed on an ongoing basis about real estate matters which vitally affect consumers," Mr Slatin said.
The institute also raised questions, saying consumers could be "relatively unprotected" if the reforms went through in their present form.
It also raised questions about the new licensing authority's role and how that would mesh with the existing industry training organisation. It vowed to take up these issues with the Government and its members.
