Real estate agent Ray Schroder suggested his vendors pay him part of their profit from the sale of their property.
Real estate agent Ray Schroder suggested his vendors pay him part of their profit from the sale of their property.
A real estate agent was sacked after suggesting the vendor show his appreciation for the sale of a property by halving the $26,000 profit, even though he had already received a commission.
Eves Realty agent Raymond Schroder was sacked and charged with misconduct after the sale of a home he listed in Tauranga in 2018.
Despite agreeing to a summary of facts he told the Herald he felt his dismissal was an over-reaction and he hadn't done harm by asking for a "gratuity".
An agreement for sale and purchase of the Greerton property was entered into in September 2018 for $590,000 and a deposit of $59,000 was paid into the agency's trust account.
Schroder's share of the commission was paid to him when the contract became unconditional in early October.
However, the buyer defaulted on settlement and forfeited the deposit. The agency agreed to forfeit the commission on the unsuccessful sale, but Schroder was allowed to keep his share.
A month later another salesperson presented an offer of $535,000 but the vendor didn't accept it.
Just over a week later Schroder sold the property for $561,000 - but he wasn't entitled to any commission because he had already received some for the original sale. In the absence of further commission, Schroder sent the vendors a message from his personal email congratulating them on the unconditional sale - and suggested they might want to show their appreciation by splitting the profit.
He calculated the profit to be $26,000, the difference between the offer they rejected and the amount he got for them.
Real estate agent Ray Schroder suggested his vendors pay him part of their profit from the sale of their property.
He said it would be in addition to the commission being paid to the agency via the deposit.
Schroder provided his personal bank account details and signed off saying it was "my pleasure to bring you such a great result".
The concerned vendors instead emailed the agency. He was sacked and reported to the Real Estate Authority.
Schroder voluntarily surrendered his salesperson's licence and agreed to a summary of facts that was presented during a Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal hearing this month.
The tribunal ruled his conduct was at the low to moderate level of misconduct and was motivated by personal commercial gain.
Schroder said he was relatively new to the industry, having only held a licence since 2016, and didn't think he had been well supervised. He added he had sent the vendor another letter in which he apologised and expressed his remorse.
Schroder was censured, fined $2000 and ordered to pay costs of $1500.
"There was no harm...no money was received, I basically asked for a gratuity which was frowned upon," he said.
"While it's not done practice, and it can be seen as not representative of the industry, it was still a harsh reaction."
