The Victorian government has passed a bill to boost in fines aimed at agents caught underquoting. But they won’t start until November, and experts fear they won’t work.
Melbourne homebuyers have been warned to expect ongoing underquoting at auctions, despite boosted penalties for dodgy agents being passed through the Victorian parliament this week.
It has taken more than 500 days for the increased fines to be passed through the parliament since they were first mooted in the Victorian Housing Statement in 2023, and they will not be enforced until November.
Just over 400 homes will go under the hammer across the state this weekend as people seek to make the most of the Labour Day long weekend.
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But the numbers are down by 6 per cent compared to a year ago, and despite the Reserve Bank reducing interest rates last month, PropTrack forecasts show the number of auctions will remain as much as 34 per cent below 2024 levels for both of the coming weekends.
With the prospect of rising competition, M R Advocacy director Madeleine Roberts said she doubted even the looming threat of harsher penalties would make a difference to homes soaring past their quoted prices at auctions.
“This won’t make a dent; there’s always a loophole, always a way around it,” Ms Roberts said.
“I’ll be watching to see what happens, but if I’m being perfectly honest, I think we’ll see people working around it just as they always have.”
M R Advocacy director Madeleine Roberts said new underquoting fines won’t stop agents from finding loopholes to keep misleading buyers.
The bill to increase underquoting penalties passed through parliament this week, but will not take effect until November this year.
When it does, dodgy agents caught misleading buyers will face fines of up to $47,500.
In August last year, Consumer Affairs Victoria made an underquoting task force, trialled across the state for the prior two years, permanent.
At the time they had recorded more than 2800 reports of underquoting, attended more than 180 auctions and issued 320 warnings as well as fines totalling at $1.6m.
Victoria’s new underquoting penalties, set to take effect in November, aim to crack down on misleading price guides — but were only passed through the parliament more than a year after being announced. Picture: NewsWire/ David Crosling
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