Code of Conduct
Association members pledge to observe the spirit of the Code of Conduct in all of their activities whether acting personally or as representatives of their respective businesses.
Members must strive to protect and promote the interests of their clients as their primary duty.
1. Industry Knowledge
Members strive to be abreast of market conditions, laws and guidelines with respect to their role(s) within the sector to the best of their ability. The required or expected knowledge may vary from member to member, depending on how they are assisting a private seller. A photographer will of course not be expected to have knowledge of underquoting laws. A licensed agency assisting a vendor in the sale of their property in Victoria (as an example) would be expected to have knowledge of these laws. ‘Industry Knowledge’ indicates an expected level of expertise and professionalism as it relates to the member’s specific service offering.
2. Primary Duty to Client
Members must strive to protect and promote the interests of their clients as their primary duty.
Members must not:
a. Intentionally mislead anyone
b. Reveal Confidential Information about the client to third parties.
c. Use acquired information about the Client to the Client’s disadvantage.
d. Act dishonestly, unprofessionally or unfairly. The obligation to deal fairly does not in any way reduce the Members’s obligation to fulfil their fiduciary duties to a Client and follow the Client’s lawful instructions.
3. Compliance
Members who provide online adverting and listings services must ensure they are abreast with industry requirements as they pertain to real estate advertising. To this extent, members have a duty of care to assist clients in ensuring that state requirements relating to such things as underquoting are not violated. Members must also assist their clients to display prices so as to be in line with state requirements.
When listing on agent-only real estate websites, members have a duty of care to ensure that their clients’ listings do not violate the Terms of Service or the Acceptable Use Policies of those websites. This will vary from one website to another.
4. Marketing Authorities
Members shall ensure that agreements to advertise real estate online are written in clear and understandable language and shall be in English. The marketing authority must be clear in terms of expressing the specific terms, conditions, obligations and commitments of the parties to the agreement. A copy of each final agreement shall be furnished to each party upon their signing or initialling, and shall be dealt with in accordance with the instructions of the parties involved.
5. Disclosure of Benefits
Members shall disclose to their Clients any financial or other benefits they may receive from recommending the services of third parties to their client, or any rebate or profit accepted by the member or his/her firm for expenditures made for that party.
6. Professional and Quality Service
Members shall render a skilled and conscientious service, in conformity with standards of competence that are reasonably expected in the specific real estate disciplines in which the member engages. Where the member lacks sufficient expertise, they may only provide the service with the assistance of another professional who is properly qualified. Members shall not provide real estate advice to vendors unless they hold a real estate license in the State or Territory where the property is being sold.
7. Honest and Accurate Advertising
While is beyond to the scope of most members to validate all claims made in online property advertisements, members should ensure that all property advertisements are compliant with state laws. This includes a wide array of issues such as not using certain terms in the price (for states like NSW and VIC), to not advertising listings until a contract has been prepared (NSW and ACT).
Members shall ensure that proof of ownership (such as a recent rates notice) is checked before publishing properties online.
8. Discrimination
Members shall not deny professional services to or be a party to any plan to discriminate against anyone for reasons of race, national or ethnic origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status or disability, religion, colour, sex, family status, or age.
