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A decision by New Zealand's largest real estate agency chain to give an international award to an agent last year warned by the Commerce Commission shows the industry is out of touch, a Government minister said today.
Shaun Cosgrave last night won Harcourts Australasian award, making him the firm's top-selling agent in the region, which includes New Zealand, Australia and Fiji.
He also won two other awards, being named New Zealand's top agent and taking Harcourt's unit award for being involved in the highest number of property transactions.
This afternoon, Associate Justice Minister Clayton Cosgrove said he was "stunned" by the decision and said it showed "once again that the senior leadership in the real estate sector is clearly out of touch with New Zealanders".
Last year, the Commerce Commission issued a written warning to Mr Cosgrave, who sold Hamilton couple John and Caitlin Ottaway a house for $350,000 in 2004 without telling them an apartment complex was going to be built next door.
The couple sold the property 18 months later for $390,000 but a valuer said they would have got $425,000 without the apartments.
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand also fined Mr Cosgrave $750 for a breach of the Fair Trading Act.
The minister said today: "Rather than spending money on an expensive awards ceremony, Harcourts could instead have decided to compensate John and Catlin Ottaway."
The Government this week announced changes to the regulation of real estate agents that Mr Cosgrove claimed will improve accountability, transparency and independence.
Mr Cosgrove said: "At this time when the industry is under enhanced scrutiny due to some high-profile cases about unethical real estate agents and the government's plans to overhaul real estate agent legislation, I find it hard to fathom how the industry can continue to insult good people like the Ottaways with this kind of self indulgence."
He said he had arranged a meeting with Bryan Thomson, chief executive of Harcourts, at which he intended to ask Harcourts to compensate the Ottaways, but that Mr Thomson pulled out of the meeting the night before it was due to take place.
