consequences. The post is related to the
problems faced by the property agents.
Most of the property transactions are
related with legal issues. Mostly it is a common thought that the people either
buyer or the seller used to face the legal consequences. However, in lot of
instances it also has been seen that the agent faces the legal consequences
from both the buyer and seller side. A realestate lawyer in Kolkata mentioned that there are statutory laws under
which a buyer or a seller can file a legal suit against a broker. There can be
several grounds based on which a legal suit can be framed against the agents.
This post is related with 5 common issues that the brokers usually face on the
different legal grounds.
Misinterpretation: the most common charges against the brokers or the real estates
agents faces. Apart from that, there are associated charges such as failure to
disclose the issue, or to provide wrong information. Usually the
misinterpretations happen when the agents in order to sale the properties say
fictitiously about the structural materials or the designs about the property.
Sometimes even misinterpretations happen related to the boundaries of the
property. The common issues related with the disclosure are easement and
renovation that with out consent of the authority.
According to the lawyers, misinterpretation
can be classified into three different parts such as innocent, fraudulent and
negligent. The negligence issue comes out when the agent misses to inform flaws
of the property due to careless ignorance. However, if the agent deliberately
hides some of the flaws of the property then it will be considered as
fraudulent. In case the agents says something about the property, which will
not harm the buyer or have a very less significance will be considered as
ignorance.
Breach
of Fiduciary duty: it usually happens in case when a
third party on behalf of another person generally does the deal. Generally, nearly
10% charges against the property dealer are filed on this ground. Sometimes a
single party is sold an item to two different buyers, which creates lot of
issues related with it. However, in order deal with these sorts of issues the
brokers and the agents must be told that what are exact work they have and what
are the basic expectation of the buyers. The agencies, which are dealing in the
property related issues must educate the agents regarding the state law in
order to avoid the basic issues.
Misleading
Advertising: Another common charge against the
property agents is to give advertisement, which is misleading. It is generally
considered as affinity programmes, which are associated with the advertisement
related to signboards and internet advertisings. All the commercials must be fulfilling
the laws that are prescribed by the state law or the national laws. There are
certain codes and ethics are also there that must be followed while one is
placing the advertisement over any media. Even these same issues are applicable
in case of internet advertisings. It is important that all the advertisement
must contains truth; any misinformation may lead to legal consequence.
Environmental
Issues: There are often it has been seen that
agents used to promises the buyers of using the items that are environment
friendly. These items can include asbestos, or rainwater harvesting issues.
Even if the against promises to use environment friendly paints but uses lead
based paints can also be considered as misguiding. The buyers can file lawsuits
against the broker based on these issues. In order to avoid such issues the
brokers are advised to tell the truth such as the use of paint and the
potential hazards that it may cause to the residents.
Illegal
Advices: Another important issue that brokers must consider
while selling a property is to give the right advice to the people. Generally,
the buyers are mostly unaware of the legal consequences of property dealings.
It is not only the duty but also lawful that the brokers must give the right
advice. They must provoke the buyers to be indulged into some issues that are
illegal and the client may face legal obligations later. However, a broker must not give and neither
they are entitled to give any legal advices to the clients. The legal advices
can be only be given by the property related lawyers who are aware of all the
tax and other legal issues of property transactions.
Here, in this post I have mentioned about
the different legal issues that generally the real estate agents and broker
usually faces. It is always advisable to agents to remain truthful to the
clients and must not post any advertisement that may mislead the potential
buyers. In any legal situation one must contact with the attorneys as soon as
possible.