EVERYONE loves a good acronym – unless its EOFY (end of financial year) and you have to pay the ATO
EVERYONE loves a good acronym – unless its EOFY (end of financial year) and you have to pay the ATO (Australian Tax Office)…. but two names you should definitely know in real estate is the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) and of course, the REIQ (Real Estate Institute of Queensland).
The OFT is the government body tasked with ensuring that the commercial marketplace is both safe and fair for customers and businesses alike. This is done through the management and granting of licences across a range of industries (including real estate), the administration of consumer protection laws passed by legislation, education for both businesses and consumers and of course dealing with complaints and disputes.
As the controlling body for the real estate industry, the OFT makes the call on the granting of licences to conduct real estate, ensuring that prospective agents and property managers have completed the required training and meet a range of police and financial checks. These latter checks can often take longer than the training itself, but that’s a topic for another day. With the advent of compulsory CPD (continuing professional development) for real estate agents, the OFT will also now have to make sure that all agents have met these ongoing requirements in order to renew their licences each year (lucky them).
From a consumer point of view, the OFT is typically where you would turn to if you are unable to resolve a dispute or complaint directly with a real estate business (though hopefully you can address most concerns before that point). Catching up with the local OFT team recently, issues raised can range from the relatively simple “I made an offer and didn’t get an opportunity to up it later and missed out (common in a hot market, and not an offence), to misleading conduct (potentially an offence, depending on the circumstances) through to Trust account “irregularities” (rare, DEFINITELY an offence). In the context of real estate, the OFT is empowered to investigate complaints, level fines, cancel licences and take other legal action against bad behaviour.
Where the OFT is a government body, the REIQ is an industry (private) body, representing the real estate industry both with government and the media. The REIQ has been instrumental in working with state governments on legislation affecting the industry, including the Property Occupations Act 2014 and the significant rental reforms of the past few years. As the voice of the real estate industry in QLD, the REIQ has been able to offer a significant voice for owners and landlords in helping to balance some of the proposed elements of these legislative changes (though far from all). The REIQ also helps mediate (rare) disputes between members, provides regular updates to members and is a highly regarded training organisation in its own right.