Misconduct charge for Harcourts real estate agent accused of withholding man's phone bid at auction

Harcourts agent John 'Billy' Misa has been charged with misconduct. Photo / Supplied

A real estate agent has been charged with misconduct by an industry body after his alleged refusal to accept a phone bid during an auction was caught on tape.

Investor Wesley Harvett is gutted to have missed out on the three-unit Manurewa property and feels he was used by Harcourts agent John 'Billy' Misa to jack up the price.

"All I've done at that auction is boost the price for their vendor. That's all I've done."

Misa is accused of withholding his client's final offer of $1.17 million at the September 2016 auction, after taking several of his earlier phone bids.

In a recording allegedly captured by Harvett's phone late in the auction, Misa tells the 33-year-old father of one, "Wes, you know, your reputation from us is not really the best" and says he doesn't want to "bullshit" the vendor.

"We're not bidding here."

This property at 9 Oxford Rd, Manurewa is at the centre of an REAA investigation. Image / Google

The property at 9 Oxford Rd was sold moments later to another buyer for $1.16m - $10,000 below what Harvett said would have been his final bid.

Earlier, Misa presented Harvett's phone bidding form to the vendor, took his calls and opened the bidding on his behalf at $800,000.

The recording appears to show Misa continuing to field his client's bids right up to the final moment before allegedly refusing to help him secure the property.

Investigators launched an inquiry after Harvett complained to the Real Estate Agents Authority (REAA) last year follows attempts to resolve the matter with Harcourts.

Misa now faces one charge of misconduct for "seriously incompetent or seriously negligent real estate work".

Charge sheets supplied to the Weekend Herald allege Misa attended the auction with instructions to act on behalf of a phone bidder with an uncharged cellphone.

Misa is also accused of divulging information about his client to his Harcourts colleague and deliberately withholding the final bid, despite allegedly being told at a private viewing that Harvett had a budget of up to $1.2 million.

A licensed agent since 2013, Misa is defending the charge and the case is set to go to a hearing before the Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal later this year.

If found guilty he could be censured, fined or potentially lose his license.

Documents supplied to the Weekend Herald show Harvett told Misa he'd had previous dealing with Misa's colleague at another firm.

Harvett claims he asked Misa not to mention his name to the colleague, and also asked to bid under an assumed name of "Mr Chen" so other bidders would not recognise him.

The property had been an ideal investment opportunity as the rental income would have covered his mortgage repayments. The investment was to help secure the financial future of his young son.

He felt Misa's actions had breached the REAA's code of conduct and Harcourt's own internal procedures, and believed the agent should be stripped of his license.

He also questioned why Misa had not talked to him direct before the auction if he had any concerns.

"He had one job to do and that was listen to me and put up his hand."

Both Misa and Harcourts declined to comment this week, as the matter was still before the REAA.

But in a statement to investigators, Misa said his colleague had warned him "to be cautious" of Harvett due to their previous dealings.

He outlined having difficulties with communication during the packed auction "with a number of calls dropping".

"During talks with the auctioneer and the vendor, I asked Wesley, 'Are you serious man, as the bid is now $1.16m and your reputation is not good, are you all good for this?' I acknowledge that my choice of words here was somewhat blunt and not as tactful as they could have been (English is my second language and I was under huge pressure).

"However I did have some reservation about him as a buyer in that [my colleague] had had previous difficulties with him and he had proven to be somewhat deceitful in his request to bid by phone and be called by a false name. I believe these concerns were appropriate and in line with my fiduciary duty to our vendor."