Estate agents told: You have 48 hours to end house price deceit
Agents have been publishing artificially high prices so they can win future business from other sellers during the housing downturn.
To combat the practice The Irish Times has had to print a disclaimer in its property section to say it cannot accept responsibility for inaccurate prices supplied by estate agents.
Yesterday National Consumer Agency boss Ann Fitzgerald gave estate agents 48 hours to give an undertaking to publish only accurate prices in property supplements.
âThe provision of false information is illegal under the Consumer Protection Act and we have extensive powers which we will not hesitate to use if necessary,â said Ms Fitzgerald.
âWe have very serious concerns in relation to the accuracy, or otherwise, of private treaty sale prices in newspapers.â
Yesterdayâs ultimatum was issued to the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute (IAVI) and the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers, which both represent estate agents.
Last night IAVI chief executive Alan Cooke said the ultimatum would mean agents would no longer supply the information to property supplements.
âThe price a house is sold for is private information and people will not want their linen washed in public.â
But he condemned what he described as a small minority of agents who had been publishing misleading prices.
âIt is short-sighted and only creates problems for themselves,â said Mr Cooke.
âIf they say they got 20% more for a house than they did then they will have to explain to the seller of a similar property why they didnât get that for their home. We would be in favour of a publicly available register of property prices and have been pressing for this,â he said.
Such information was held by the Valuation Office, which knows the selling prices of houses as it dealt with stamp duty, he said.
More information about the prices of houses would help home buyers and house sellers become better informed, he added.
