A first-time homeowner is shocked to discover he was sold the wrong property months after moving in.
Perth man Nicholas Cronin had been enjoying life in his new home in Tapping, in the city’s north, before his settlement agent delivered the bad news.
The agent told Mr. Cronin that the incorrect folio number was noted on all paperwork for his new home and needed to be resubmitted.
He had moved to one of two adjacent lots with two deeds that listed street addresses that did not match the physical street addresses of the lots.
The agent failed to notice that the lot on his proof of purchase did not match the lot on the strata plan Western Australian reports.
“As you can imagine, this caused all kinds of problems and in fact I received the correct bill from the Water Corp in February this year,” he said.
Perth man Nicholas Cronin was enjoying life in his new home in Tapping, in the city’s north, before his settlement agent revealed he had been sold the wrong house
Mr Cronin eventually managed to convince the owner of the other property to change the address to comply with official documents.
The rates, water rates, gas, electricity, home insurance have been changed to the correct address but he is still having problems with his NBN and internet.
It comes after a Perth estate agency was fined $7,000 for selling a woman the wrong property in Camillo, in the city’s south-east.
O’Neil Real Estate was fined after the buyer discovered the lot number on her First Home Owners Grant application did not match the information.
The agent had not noticed that the lot on Mr Cronin’s purchase certificate did not match the lot on the strata plan (photo: a ‘sold’ sign outside a house in Sydney)
The agency was fined $6,000 and ordered to pay $1,000 in costs after an officer failed to notice that the lot address on the purchased title certificate was different from that on the strata plan in March 2022.
The State Administrative Tribunal ruled that the agency violated the Code of Conduct for Real Estate and Business Agents and Sales Representatives when it failed to exercise due care, diligence and skill during the sales agreement.
O’Neil Real Estate director Rohan Wieske said the agency had paid the fine and worked to ensure the same mistake never happened again.
He told the West Australian his officers were now ensuring ownership documents matched physical inspections of properties sold by the agency.
“It went through us, it went through both sets of settlement agents, it went through the bank, it went through an appraiser and unfortunately it wasn’t picked up,” he said.
“But the owner did move into the house they wanted to buy, the seller sold the property they wanted to sell. Only the legal description on the contract for the land was wrong – it was a fairly simple solution.’
Consumer Protection WA has issued a warning in lieu of the blunder reminding property agents to have the correct procedures in place.
