I was recently gazumped on a property in NSW. We had placed a $10,000 expression of interest deposit on the property, the vendor accepted our written offer, but it was sold later to another party of which we had no knowledge. According to the Property Stock and Business Regulation NSW (2014), the agent was legally required to inform us if anyone else entered the sales process and to allow us to counter offer. However we were not informed and only 24 h after our contract exchange was set to take place (during which we had paid the full 5% deposit into the agent’s trust fund), did we find out that the property was exchanged one day after our supposed exchange to someone else. Neither the agent nor the CEO of that real estate company in Australia responded satisfactorily to our complaint. I’d like to ensure that others are aware that the agent’s actions in this case were not only unethical but also illegal . According to law they must inform you of another buyer. We lost our dream property but we will be better informed in future.
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