LAND AND BUSINESS (SALE AND CONVEYANCING) ACT 1994 - SECT 24J

LAND AND BUSINESS (SALE AND CONVEYANCING) ACT 1994 - SECT 24J

24J—Preliminary actions and records required for auctions of residential land

        (1)         The responsible agent must ensure that the following requirements are satisfied in relation to an auction for the sale of residential land (in addition to other requirements under this Act):

            (a)         the standard conditions of auction must be made available for perusal by members of the public at the place at which the auction is to be conducted for at least 30 minutes before the auction is due to commence;

            (b)         the auctioneer must, immediately before the auction commences, audibly announce to members of the public attending the auction that the standard conditions of auction (as required to be made available for perusal before the auction) apply to the auction as binding contractual conditions;

            (ba)         the reserve price for the land must not, at any time before or during the auction, be set at an amount exceeding 110% of the amount specified in the sales agency agreement as the selling price sought by, or acceptable to, the vendor;

            (c)         a written record (an "auction record") must be made and kept by the agent, consisting of the following which must be made before the commencement of the auction:

                  (i)         a record of the reserve price for the land and any changes in the reserve price made before the commencement of the auction;

                  (ii)         a register (a "bidders register") of the persons intending to bid at the auction, containing the details relating to the intending bidders required by the regulations;

                  (iii)         other records containing details relating to the auction required by the regulations;

            (d)         if a bid is to be allowed by a person who was not registered in the bidders register as an intending bidder before the commencement of the auction, the auction must be interrupted and the person's details entered in the bidders register;

            (e)         before details of an intending bidder are entered in the bidders register, the identity of the intending bidder must be established in accordance with the regulations, and if the intending bidder is to bid on behalf of another person, the person's authority to so act must be established in accordance with the regulations and proof must be obtained in accordance with the regulations of the other person's identity;

            (f)         each person registered in the bidders register must, when the person's details are being taken for entry in the register, be supplied with a written guide relating to the sale of residential land by auction in the form approved by the Commissioner for the purposes of this section;

            (g)         any change in the reserve price made during the auction must be entered in the auction record;

            (h)         an entry must be made in the auction record recording the amount of each bid and (except in the case of a bid referred to in paragraph (i)) the identifying number allocated to the person who made the bid;

                  (i)         if the auctioneer makes a bid on behalf of the vendor (see  section 24O), an entry must be made in the auction record recording the amount of the bid and that the bid was a vendor bid;

            (j)         other details relating to bidding or subsequent events must be entered in the auction record in accordance with the regulations;

            (k)         any entry to be made in the auction record must be made immediately on the happening of the event to be recorded in the entry.

Maximum penalty: $10 000.

        (2)         A person must not enter details in an auction record, or furnish details for entry in an auction record, that the person knows, or has reason to believe, are false in a material particular.

Maximum penalty: $10 000.

        (3)         A person who has made an auction record or had access to the record must not disclose or make any use of information in the record except—

            (a)         as authorised under this Part; or

            (b)         as required by an authorised officer.

Maximum penalty: $10 000.

        (4)         A contravention of this section does not affect the validity of a bid or a contract for the sale of the land.

        (5)         In this section—

"responsible agent" in relation to an auction for the sale of land means the agent who has entered into a sales agency agreement with the vendor for the sale of the land, whether or not the agent is to conduct the auction through the instrumentality of another agent.