A real estate agent and his employers, Jones Lang LaSalle, have been censured after on-selling two properties within days for more than $80,000 above the original price.
Michael Edward was enlisted to sell two units for a client.
But he failed to carry out an adequate appraisal of the properties' worth, according to the Real Estate Agents Authority, the independent government agency that regulates the New Zealand real estate industry.
And neither he nor leading estate agency Jones Lang LaSalle properly completed and signed an agency agreement.
After the two units were sold, they were on-sold again just days later for $82,500 more than they originally fetched. The victim complained to the Real Estate Agents Authority, asking for the shortfall of $82,500 to be paid to him.
He also called for the fees paid to be refunded and that both the agent and his bosses be fined.
During the complaints assessment committee process, Jones Lang LaSalle stated that no penalty was justified, and that publication of the committee's decision would not be in the public's interest.
However, the committee criticised both Edward and Jones Lang LaSalle for failing to carry out an appraisal, and not completing an agency agreement.
The failure to produce a written agency agreement meant they should not have been entitled to any commission, under its rules.
"Clearly the work did not in this case comply with the requirements of the act and the submission by both the licensee and the agency that there was no causative bearing on the outcome of the transaction is not accepted by the committee," the committee's ruling says.
The committee decided to censure both Edward and Jones Lang LaSalle.
But it does not have the power to award the compensation requested by the complainant.
It considered imposing a fine, but decided the refund of the commission was more appropriate.
The committee also rejected Jones Lang LaSalle's wish for its decision not to be published, saying that its disciplinary process needed to be transparent, independent and effective.
"It is in the public interest that the decision be published," the committee concluded.