Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Act 1994

For the purposes of this section—

a representation is made in marketing land if—

it is made in an advertisement for the sale of the land that is published, or caused to be published, by the agent; or

it is made (whether orally or in writing) to a purchaser who has not commenced negotiations for the purchase of the land; and

information in an advertisement is a representation as to a likely price or likely price range for the sale of land if it could be reasonably taken to be such; and

a statement as to the price actually sought by, or acceptable to, the vendor of land is not a representation as to a likely price for the sale of the land provided that the amount stated as the price is the same as the selling price sought by, or acceptable to, the vendor as expressed in the sales agency agreement at the time of the statement; and

prescribed minimum advertising price, in relation to a representation, is the amount that is the greater of—

the agent's estimate of the selling price as expressed in the sales agency agreement at the time of the representation; or

the selling price sought by, or acceptable to, the vendor as expressed in the sales agency agreement at the time of the representation.

In marketing residential land that an agent is authorised to sell on behalf of a vendor, the agent or a sales representative employed by the agent must comply with the following:

if the agent or sales representative makes a representation as to a likely price for the land—

the price must be expressed as a single figure without any qualifying words or symbols; and

the price must not be less than the prescribed minimum advertising price;

if the agent or sales representative makes a representation as to a likely price range for the land—

the price range must be expressed using 2 single figures in combination only with such words or symbols as are necessary to denote a range¹ with the first figure constituting the lower limit of the range and the second figure constituting the upper limit of the range;

and

the lower limit of the range must not be less than the prescribed minimum advertising price; and

the upper limit of the range must not exceed 110% of the lower limit of the range. Maximum penalty: Maximum penalty: $20 000 or imprisonment for

1 year.

An agent must not demand, receive or retain commission or expenses in respect of the sale of land if the agent or a sales representative employed by the agent has failed to comply with a requirement of subsection (2) in marketing the land on behalf of the vendor. Maximum penalty: Maximum penalty: $5 000.

Commission or expenses received or retained by an agent in contravention of this section may be recovered, as a debt, from the agent by the person by whom it was paid.