REINZ sale form flawed, says lawyer

A law society boss is encouraging lawyers to reject a new contract out for buying and selling property.

Anna Fitzgibbon, Auckland District Law Society's president, has warned lawyers against the Real Estate Institute's new contract.

The institute promoted the form last month as a plain English contract which it says will make buying and selling easier.

Christine Le Cren, the institute's chief executive, says people buying or selling a property have a right to understand the implications of what they are signing.

"The new forms are designed to do away with ambiguity and complexity,' she said.

But Fitzgibbon says the form favours buyers and is actively biased against sellers.

"[The form] attempts to introduce new principles into settled areas of vendor and purchaser law, perhaps unsuccessfully," she said.

John Waymouth, a property barrister, said: "I believe it to be very foolhardy and certainly not serving the interests of the public for the REINZ to have prepared and promoted a document that has so many deficiencies.

"The sale and purchase agreement is probably one of the most important contracts people enter into and they need basic protections and rights.

"The new REINZ form denies them of that."