Complaints against real estate agents up 35% in ‘challenging’ market

That needs to be a focus for the industry, she said, acknowledging that some cases brought to the authority raised complex and serious matters.

The Real Estate Authority has released its latest annual report summarising numbers of complaints against agents. Photo / NZME

“Licensees are expected to maintain high standards and to have the skills to navigate challenging market conditions. Fairness, transparency, skill and care are critical expectations of the conduct regulatory system we oversee.”

In the latest year there were:

487 complaints received by authority (361 in 2023/24);467 complaints were determined by the authority (283 in 2022/24);341 of those 467 complaints were addressed through early resolution processes;145 decisions were issued by the independent complaints assessment committees (113 in 2023/24);43 decisions were issued by the Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal.

The top complaint themes were about customer service, skill and care, disclosure and misleading advertising.

Poor communication was another common theme.

The authority’s role is to license agents and uphold the law. Photo / NZME

However, the authority reported that a large proportion of the complaints considered did not raise issues justifying strong regulatory intervention.

Moffat said 9% of agents complained about had findings of misconduct or unsatisfactory conduct against them.

“The complaint results indicate that most licensees are continuing to maintain high standards of professional conduct,” she said.

The increase in complaints highlighted the complexity of the real estate transaction process and the importance of consumers receiving high standards of service from the sector, she said.

Providing good information about a property is important to support good decision-making by parties to a transaction, she added.

Belinda Moffat of the Real Estate Authority. Photo / Real Estate Authority

“Protecting consumers from harm is at the heart of our work,” Moffat said.

Top five issues raised in complaints in 2024/25 were:

Skill and care;Licensees not disclosing issues with the property;Customer care;Misleading advertising;Not acting in the client’s interest/fiduciary obligations.

Despite the slow market, agent numbers have remained stable with 15,692 active licenses by the end of June.

This included:

12,300 salespeople;605 branch managers;1930 individual agents;857 company agents.

The authority had forecast the number of agents to fall more.

“We were particularly pleased to see the 18% increase in branch managers this year, given the important role they play as supervisors of salespeople,” Moffat said.

“During the year, we responded to 41 media enquiries, continued our regular advice columns on Stuff, established content partnerships with Trade Me Property and OneRoof and contributed to The Property Lawyer magazine,” the report said.

Accounts showed the authority had total revenue of $11.4 million (previously $11m).

Total expenditure was $12.4m (previously $11.4m), leaving a deficit of $1.06m (previously a deficit of $380,000).

During the year, the authority collected $526,185 (2024: $514,272) of disciplinary tribunal levies on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

These levies are paid directly to the ministry in the month following their collection.

Board members are chair Denese Bates KC, Elizabeth Nidd, Anthony Stack, Brooke Loader, Latham Lockwood, Vern Walsh JP, Mele Wendt, Shirley McLeod, Mark Coffey and Caroline Tate.

Former Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove now has a range of corporate clients. Photo / Paul Taylor

The authority is responsible for licensing real estate salespeople, branch managers, agents and agencies in the residential, commercial, business broking and rural sectors and overseeing a complaints and disciplinary process that is independent, transparent and effective.

It was established in 2009 after Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove introduced legislation to the House under urgency before his party lost power.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.

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