Consumer Affairs Victoria has created a new taskforce to prevent real estate agents from underpricing homes in a bid to attract more offers, with national agency @realty taking the extra step of hiring a compliance officer to ensure its agents adhere to legislation.

Former Consumer Affairs Victoria compliance officer Chris Childs has joined the @realty team in the wake of the new taskforce, which is cracking down on ‘under selling’ – a practice that has escalated in recent years due to skyrocketing prices.

Ms Childs says she will be keeping a watchful eye to ensure the business’ agents are advertising homes at a realistic price, as well as complying with all contract and consumer laws.

“Under selling is without a doubt the biggest issue facing the real estate industry, and that’s why Consumer Affairs Victoria has just introduced a new taskforce to tackle it,” she said.

“In a nutshell, there are a lot of agents advertising a home for $100,000 less than they know it will sell for, in a bid to attract more offers and create competition.

“This is an unfair practice which gives buyers false hope and creates confusion for the vendors.

“In my 20 years working with Consumer Affairs Victoria, under selling was a common issue, but it has become much more prevalent recently due to the very strong price growth we have seen.”

Ms Childs says she is thrilled to be on board with @realty, and that other agencies should consider checking their compliance against new laws.

“I think it is fantastic that @realty is taking compliance so seriously that they have brought me in house to ensure their Victorian agents are doing everything correctly,” she said.

“My role will be to protect @realty’s clients and ensure the whole sales process is fair, but I’m also here for the agents who may need to support to rectify issues they may not have been aware of.

“@realty is unique in that its software and compliance systems have been built to enable easy cross referencing of all documents and listings, so they are starting from a place of transparency, which puts them ahead in a lot of ways.”

@realty director James Taylor says compliance is a priority for the business, which now has agents in every state and territory of Australia and has recently expanded into New Zealand.

“We’ve all heard the stereotype that real estate agents can’t be trusted and we want to change that,” he said.

“Building trust is how we build our reputation because word of mouth is incredibly important in this business.

“If people have a good experience with us, we become part of their ‘family’ and might end up selling homes for their relatives and friends.

“Buying and selling a property is an emotional journey for all involved and there’s a huge responsibility for the agent to make sure everything goes smoothly.

“We’re excited to have Chris on board so we can support our agents to do the right thing and our clients can have confidence that integrity is of the utmost importance to us.”