Ray White New Farm principal and salesman cop fines for ‘false and misleading representations’

A VERY high-profile Brisbane real estate agency controlled by an agent “commonly regarded as the best in the business” has been hit with hefty fines by the Office of Fair Trading for false and misleading representations.

Hamish Bowman from Ray White New Farm. Picture: Darren England.

FALSE AND MISLEADING

A very high profile Brisbane real estate agency and one of its salesmen have copped hefty fines for “false and misleading representations’’ from state regulators.

The $12,960 penalty slapped on the company controlled by Ray White New Farm principal Matt Lancashire and his colleague, Hamish Bowman, has set tongues wagging in the industry.

Lancashire routinely snares listings for some of the city’s most expensive homes.

The Office of Fair Trading hit Lancashire’s solely-owned MBL Property Group, the corporate licensee of the Ray White New Farm franchise, with a $10,800 penalty notice in late March.

Bowman had to cough up $2160 for his transgression, which involved significantly underquoting the real price of a Fortitude Valley property he was selling in October.

He provided a prospective buyer with marketing material which showed the price as “offers from $645,000’’.

When the consumer made an offer above that figure, Bowman responded that the owners were actually looking for something above $749,000.

Taken aback, the aspiring buyer lodged an online complaint but Bowman “replied that in real estate ‘from’ means from a price and that it was not deceptive,’’ according to the OFT. Lancashire’s office did not respond to the complaint.

The investor then went to OFT, which said it “identified evidence of a breach of the Australian Consumer Law for false or misleading representations about the sale of land’’.

Lancashire, whose website says he is “now commonly regarded as the best in the business,’’ did not return City Beat’s calls seeking comment yesterday.

Just a few weeks ago he wrapped up the $7.5 million sale of a riverfront mansion in Fig Tree Pocket to eccentric mining magnate Clive Palmer.

The place had previously been owned by Peter Bond, the founder of failed Linc Energy, who paid $9.5 million for it in 2008.

Bowman brushed off the matter and refused to discuss it.

“It’s all done and dusted. It’s a very minor incident and we’ve moved on from it,’’ he told your diarist.

A real estate industry player for more than 25 years, Bowman’s online blurb claims he has “built a reputation for delivering the highest levels of service and commitment to his clients’’.

SINKING THE BOOT

LANCASHIRE’S competitors, as you might expect, are indulging in a bit of schadenfreude at the spectacle.

Rival agency principal John Johnston even went so far last week as to email a hugely long spray on “why underquoting is really so wrong’’ to everyone on his database.

“The OFT is right to never take any complaint of understating price expectations lightly,’’ the Johnston Dixon top gun wrote.

“Whilst the practice is no longer rife and, thankfully due to the punishments being meted out becoming rare, it has never and will never be right.

“It is a deeply insidious practice….Underquoting by its very nature unequivocally drives prices down, not up.’’

But hang on a second. Isn’t Johnston throwing stones in a glass house?

Back in mid-2016, Johnston also forked out a $2160 fine to OFT, which found he had made false and misleading representations ahead of a highly unusual “no reserve’’ auction of his personal investment property.

Johnston told seven prospective buyers that the Chelmer rental dwelling would sell on the day. But it was passed in rather than sold to the highest bidder, who offered $640,000.

He eventually offloaded it for $705,000 the following month.