LAND AND BUSINESS (SALE AND CONVEYANCING) ACT 1994 - SECT 24C
LAND AND BUSINESS (SALE AND CONVEYANCING) ACT 1994 - SECT 24C
24C—Agent to disclose certain benefits connected with sale or purchase
(1) This section
applies in relation to the sale or purchase of land or a business.
(2) An agent must
disclose to the client in such manner as may be prescribed by the
regulations—
(a) the
nature, source and amount (or estimated amount or value) of any benefit the
agent receives or expects to receive from a third person to whom the agent has
referred the client, or with whom the agent has contracted, for the provision
of services associated with the sale or purchase; and
(b) the
nature, source and amount (or estimated amount or value) of any other benefit
any person receives or expects to receive in connection with the sale or
purchase.
Maximum penalty: $20 000.
(3) This section does
not require an agent to make a disclosure of—
(a) a
benefit disclosed in a sales agency agreement with the client; or
(b) a
benefit received or expected to be received by the agent from the client; or
(c) a
benefit received or expected to be received by the vendor or purchaser; or
(d) a
benefit related to the provision of services to the client that have been
contracted for by the agent unless the agent has made, or is to make, a
separate charge to the client in respect of the cost of the services; or
(e) a
benefit while the agent remains unaware of the benefit (but in any proceedings
against the agent, the burden will lie on the agent to prove that the agent
was not, at the material time, aware of the benefit); or
(f) a
benefit that the agent or another person receives if the agent has disclosed,
in accordance with this section, that the agent or other person expected to
receive the benefit.
(4) For the purposes
of this section—
(a) the
value of a non-monetary benefit is to be determined on the basis of a
reasonable estimate in dollars of the value of the benefit to the agent; and
(b) if
an agent receives a benefit in relation to multiple transactions (whether
involving the same or different clients of the agent), the amount or value of
the benefit in respect of any 1 of the transactions is to be determined by
apportionment between the transactions according to the proportions that the
amounts charged to the client or clients in respect of each transaction for
the services provided by the third person bear to each other.
(5) In this
section—
"agent" means a purchaser's or vendor's agent;
"benefit" includes a rebate, discount and refund;
"client" means the person for whom the agent is or has been acting;
"purchaser's agent" means—
(a) an
agent who is or has been authorised to act on behalf of a purchaser in the
purchase of land or a business; or
(b) a
sales representative who is or has been acting for that agent;
"vendor's agent" means—
(a) an
agent who is or has been authorised to act on behalf of a vendor in the sale
of land or a business; or
(b) a
sales representative who is or has been acting for that agent.