Real estate agent to fork out for ‘misleading’ homebuyer about airconditioning in a property

A Melbourne real estate agent has been fined after a buyer discovered his new property was missing an airconditioning system — after it was listed in the ad.

A Melbourne real estate agent has been ordered to fork out more than $6000 after their advertisement misled a homebuyer about airconditioning in a property.

A Melbourne real estate agent has been ordered to fork out more than $6000 after their advertisement misled a homebuyer about airconditioning in a property.

O’Brien Real Estate advertised a property online as having “ducted heating and refrigerated cooling” when it did not have any airconditioning installed.

Sanjay Tanwar bought the house in August 2020 on the assumption it had refrigerated cooling, only to discover after he took possession of the property it did not have any cooling systems.

In a decision handed down on Thursday, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) found the advertised representation of the house to be “misleading or deceptive” and ordered O’Brien Real Estate pay Mr Tanwar to partially cover the cost of installing a new air conditioner.

The tribunal heard that when Mr Tanwar conducted a final inspection of the house before settlement it was “represented to him” by O’Brien Real Estate agent Lin Zhang that the house had “refrigerated cooling”.

Mr Tanwar did not turn on any of the heating or cooling appliances during the final house inspection but sighted a wall mounted electronic control panel which had buttons for “on/off”, “cool”, “fan” and “heat”.

The tribunal heard Mr Zhang also sent Mr Tanwar a text message implying the house had refrigerated cooling.

When Mr Tanwar took possession of the property he assumed the refrigerated cooling system needed fixing, but after arranging for repairs, he discovered there was no cooling system at all.

Airconditioning installation service Aspen Air informed Mr Tanwar in November 2020 it would cost between $12,694 and $14,420 to install a new reverse cycle air conditioning system.

Mr Tanwar sought payment from O’Brien Real Estate to cover the costs of installing a new cooling system, but after failing to reach an agreement he escalated the matter to VCAT.

O’Brien Real Estate was ordered by VCAT to pay Mr Tanwar $12,694 in March last year but applied for the ruling to be reviewed.

It claimed any misrepresentations in the online advertisement were caused by the original seller of the home, Ismail El Azzouzi, who had instructed his conveyancer to inform Mr Zhang the “heating/cooling is in working order”.

The matter returned to VCAT in January this year, where Mr El Azzouzi denied ever informing the real estate agent his property had “refrigerated cooling” and claimed Mr Zhang had misunderstood him.

VCAT deputy president Ian Lulham ruled that Mr Tanwar was entitled to half of the original cost quoted to him in 2020 and ordered O’Brien to pay Mr Tanwar $6347 as well as a $217.70 filing fee.

Mr Lulham said he accepted O’Brien Real Estate and Mr Zhang “did not seek to lie or mislead” and that Mr El Azzouzi contributed to the “misleading conduct”.