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Consumers' rights will be strengthened in the real-estate sector after an agents' authority got a string of new appointments yesterday.
Associate Justice Minister Clayton Cosgrove said chairwoman Alison Sinclair and members Richard Stark and Kevin Coakley would be leaving the Real Estate Agents Licensing Board, which has the power to strike off real estate agents for breaking the law.
Former Justice Minister Bill Jeffries has been appointed chairman and former Consumers Institute chief executive David Russell and Christchurch real estate agent Murray Giera will join the board.
Mr Cosgrove said Mr Jeffries would bring a more transparent and open approach to the board's functions. Mr Russell said he was hoping to bring a clear consumer perspective to the board and indicated new legislation would further strengthen consumer rights.
"There's a new act in the wind and I wait with interest to see what comes of that," he said of promises by Mr Cosgrove to overhaul the sector and remove many of the Real Estate Institute's functions.
Mr Jeffries promised to hold hearings in public and make the board's decisions available so people could see which agents had broken the law.
"The board has the ability to put people out of the industry if they misbehave and it's elementary that all statutory matters ought to be conducted with openness. I would not accept an appointment that involved secret justice. The public are entitled to know."
Mr Jeffries was chairman of the Motor Vehicle Dealer's Licensing Board for 12 years and said that role was similar to the new appointment.
The board, which hears applications for agents' licences to be renewed or approved, only hears cases referred to it by the institute.
The institute wants new laws so it can increase fines from the maximum of $750 but Mr Cosgrove said a far more punitive action would be to refer rogue agents to the board, which had the power to stop law-breakers from working in the sector.
Mr Cosgrove said other board members Paul Dudding and Joan Harnett-Kindley, appointed late last year, would continue in their roles.
"The board has done a good job but they're reliant on what cases the institute refers to them," he said.
In 2004, the institute dealt with all disciplinary procedures itself.
Mr Cosgrove wants the institute to refer all cases to the board in future and is to soon unveil tougher new laws for agents.
Open home deal
* Consumer rights are being strengthened in the real-estate sector.
* A former Justice Minister has been appointed to chair the Real Estate Agents Licensing Board.
* Consumers' champion David Russell has also been appointed to the board.
* The aim is to make the board more transparent and open.
