KEY POINTS:
A real estate agent, whose former firm was found guilty of knocking down the price of two Napier units so he could attempt to buy them for himself, is being taken before a disciplinary body which could bar him from the industry.
Graeme Sawyer, whose former firm Bayleys
Napier pleaded guilty to charges involving a knockdown offer on two units owned by Deb Leask, will go before the Real Estate Agents Licensing Board.
The board has the power to discipline agents by removing their ability to work in the industry.
Real Estate Institute president Murray Cleland said the case was complex so the institute had sought a legal opinion from Crown solicitors in Auckland about grounds for further action.
Last year, the institute rejected taking any further action against Mr Sawyer and Bayleys was fined $750 on each of three charges - the maximum allowable under the law as it stands.
But last winter Deb Leask complained to Associate Justice Minister Clayton Cosgrove, sparking wide-spread calls for a clean-up of the $30 billion-plus real estate industry.
Mr Cosgrove has promised better procedures for complaints and harsher penalties for offending agents. He also said more cases should go to the licensing board.
Mr Sawyer said yesterday he would strongly defend himself and wanted to be able to work as an agent.
"I'm completely innocent of any wrongdoing in the Deb Leask case. I welcome the opportunity to front the licensing board. I have never had the opportunity to present my case," he said.
Mr Sawyer, who has been working at Property Brokers in Taradale, refused to say what he was doing, where he was working or whether he was still acting as an agent.
But Ms Leask said the institute had clearly demonstrated it was incompetent.
"I think the whole thing is more about the institute and how incompetent they are to deal with complaints about their own members. If the institute had been open and transparent and had proper procedures in place for investigating complaints, the right thing would have been done much much earlier.
"Sawyer should lose his real estate licence and not be allowed to work in the industry in any capacity," she said.
She also attacked Mr Cleland for calling her case complex.
"What is so complex about two agents signing an agreement for sale and purchase for way less than the asking price? It only became complex when the institute started doing the investigation," she said.
Bayleys agent John Payne failed to enter $400,000 on the listing agreement and substituted $230,000, well below Ms Leask's expectations.
The institute found Mr Sawyer had tried to buy the properties himself.
