Consumer Protection Law - Case Studies for Review

For the purpose of this assessment, you and the team from Ferngully Realty Ltd are
attending a workshop to complete your required Verifiable Continuing Education.
The topic is addressing consumer protection law and there are seven case studies

you will be reviewing as part of the workshop agenda.
For each scenario, you will be required to answer each of the following questions:
a. What, if anything, has been done wrong by the salesperson? (write one to two
sentences for each scenario)
b. What legislation (if any) has been breached? (Identify the section as

required). If appropriate, how could a customer claim a remedy? Note, more
than one Act may apply in some situations.
c. Has the Real Estate Agents Act (Professional Conduct and Client Care) Rules

2012 (the Code) been breached? If so, state the rule(s) that apply.
d. What organisations would deal with such an issue, and why?

Task 1: Consumer Protection Law – Case Studies for Review
1. Laura Scahill was excited to view a property in her sought-after
neighbourhood but when she arrived at the viewing, the first thing she noticed

was the driveway access to a large school adjacent to the property.
Considering there was no mention of the school in either the text or photos on
the Agency’s website, Laura expressed her disappointment to the salesperson
for wasting her time. After realising the photos had been photoshopped to

remove the school signage and buildings, Laura followed up with a formal
complaint.

2. Mrs Abernathy is an elderly customer purchasing an apartment in a unit title
complex. She has limited savings and told the salesperson that she relies

mostly on her retirement pension to support her living costs. During
negotiations she was encouraged to increase her offer with the salesperson
explaining that she would benefit from not having any on-going maintenance
costs to attend to. She was not advised about the Body Corporate Fees. Not

long after moving in, Mrs Abernathy was invoiced for her first month's body
corporate fees. She was shocked and concerned as she had not considered
these costs in her ongoing budget.

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3. Mr and Mrs Foote have fallen in love with a character bungalow and decide to
make an offer after the salesperson assures them that the roof has recently
been replaced and that the property has been completely rewired. Mr and Mrs
Foote pay to get a building inspection done as a condition of their offer. The

builder discovers that the property still has all the original wiring and that only
a very small part of the roof has been replaced, with most of the roof in very
poor condition. They do not proceed with the purchase and are upset that they

wasted money on the building report.

4. The Clarke family attended an open home after a half page advertisement in
their local newspaper caught their attention; it showed a spacious outdoor
entertaining area with a swimming pool. The headline in the advertisement
read ‘Large Private Outdoor Entertaining Area’. When arriving at the open
home, the buyers were shocked and disappointed to see a large unit complex
on the boundary of the property that was overlooking the entire outdoor area.

5. Martin and Wendy had seen a property they were keen to purchase so wanted
to get their current home on the market as soon as possible. When the
salesperson arrived, he told them he could get the property advertised straight
away and planned to do an open home the next day. He asked Martin and
Wendy to sign an agency agreement but said he would drop an appraisal back

to them at a later stage. After 10 days of being on the market, Martin and
Wendy had still not received an app

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