New South Wales Consolidated Acts

PROPERTY, STOCK AND BUSINESS AGENTS ACT 2002 - SECT 66

66 Prevention of dummy bidding

(1) At a sale by auction of residential property or rural land:

(a) the seller must not make a bid, and

(b) a person must not make a bid on behalf of the seller unless the person is the auctioneer and makes only one bid on behalf of the seller, and

(c) a person must not procure another person to make a bid on behalf of the seller in contravention of this section.

Maximum penalty:

(a) 500 penalty units in the case of a corporation, or

(b) 250 penalty units in any other case.

(2) For the purposes of this section, a bid can be found to have been made on behalf of a seller even though it is not made at the request of, or with the knowledge of, the seller.

(3) Without limiting what constitutes the making of a bid on behalf of the seller, a bid made with the dominant purpose of benefiting the seller in making the bid constitutes the making of a bid on behalf of the seller.

(4) An auctioneer must not sell by auction any residential property or rural land unless notice is given prior to the auction, in such manner and in such terms as may be prescribed by the regulations, of the material parts of this section.

Maximum penalty: 20 penalty units.

(5) This section does not apply to the making of a bid by or on behalf of a seller in either of the following cases so long as the requirements of subsection (6) for bids by or on behalf of a seller as co-owner or as executor or administrator are complied with:

(a) the seller is a co-owner of the land (whether as a joint tenant or tenant in common) and the bid was made to enable the seller to purchase the interest of another co-owner in the land,

(b) the seller is the executor or administrator of the estate of a deceased owner of the land.

(6) The requirements for bids by or on behalf of a seller as co-owner or as executor or administrator are as follows:

(a) the conditions under which the auction is conducted must permit the making of bids by or on behalf of a seller to purchase the interest of another co-owner in the land or to purchase as executor or administrator,

(b) the auctioneer must have announced at the auction, before the start of bidding, that bids to purchase the interest of a co-owner in the land or to purchase as executor or administrator may be made by or on behalf of the seller.