KEY POINTS:
An angry house seller told MPs yesterday that the Real Estate Institute was like the Mafia - with one important difference.
"In my opinion the Mafia has more credibility," said Deb Leask to a parliamentary committee looking at the Real Estate Agents Bill.
"If one of their own does something wrong, they end up at the end of the wharf with concrete gumboots."
The bill strips the institute of its regulatory powers and sets up an independent Real Estate Agents Authority that will be responsible for licensing, and disciplinary action of the country's 20,000 agents.
Emotions ran high during yesterday's hearing, especially when the institute presented its submission and president Murray Cleland accused Associate Justice Minister Clayton Cosgrove of interference in Ms Leask's highly publicised case.
She took action in 2004 against former Bayleys agent Graeme Sawyer, after she received an offer for $230,000 on townhouses she had wanted to sell for $400,000. It later turned out to be an offer by another salesperson in the firm, who was eventually fined $750 by the institute in 2006.
The institute eventually went further after political pressure and applied to the Licensing Board to have Mr Sawyer's certificate cancelled, but it did not succeed.
Ms Leask, who made her submission from Australia where she now lives, told the committee that she found the institute to be "disinterested in complaints, unprofessional, unable to investigate, incompetent, protective of their own members and not capable of dealing with complaints in a timely manner".
"This is right from local representatives to the very top.
"REINZ claims they have wanted tougher penalties for some time and have supposedly lobbied Government to get something done, yet they are not using the toughest penalties available to them by getting rid of these parasites who are feeding off the consumers of New Zealand, and giving honest real estate agents a bad name."
When asked by Labour list MP Jill Pettis why there was a perception that the industry had been dragged "kicking and screaming to this", Mr Cleland said: "If you want it straight from the shoulder, we've had a minister who has attacked us for various reasons. He has probably got his agenda there somewhere."
Mr Cleland said Ms Leask's case had gone right through the process.
"It got forced to the licensing board I believe because of the minister's interference with it. But when we took it to the licensing board, his own appointed licensing board found the real estate agent not guilty."
There was an uproar from the dozens of real estate agents present when Ms Pettis said: "I think you actually both enjoyed yourself with the tit for tat ... I think both of you have given as good as you have got."
Mr Cleland said the institute had been unable to speak to officials when the legislation was being drafted. The bill as it stood was defective and it would not work.
He said the number of complaints against the number of transactions that are done in this country was very small.
* COMPLAINT LIST
The Real Estate Institute says the bill's defects include:
The requirement that agents are liable for the acts and omission of salespeople within their care.
The removal of the ability to object to applications for licence renewals.
The failure of the bill to cover property managers and residential and letting and leasing agents.
The reduction in the experience requirement for an agent or branch manager.
* BIDDERS FORCED TO SIGN UP
Auctioneers and real estate agents are objecting to a proposal in the Real Estate Agents Bill that will require all bidders in property auctions to register with the auctioneer and display an identifying number before making a bid.
Real Estate Institute president Murray Cleland said secrecy was an important part of the auction process.
"There are a lot of people who go to property auctions who don't want to declare their hand until they are at the auction.
"They may make their decision up on the day. There is a very secretive part to people's intentions at a property auction," he said.
"If you start registering people at property auctions you'll find there will be a bit of a back lash."
John Ward, the chief executive officer of the Auctioneers Association, who has been an auctioneer since 1956, said determined buyers did not want their presence advertised.
"The privacy of the buyer is essential to the auction process."
