AN ESTATE AGENT who requested from house hunters a €2,000 deposit to get on a priority waiting list for a new housing development has been sanctioned by a State property industry watchdog.

That is according to the 2023 annual report of the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) where it records how the authority under the heading of ‘Non-Refundable Deposits’ – made a finding of improper conduct against the estate agent over the complaint made against him.

The authority states that it mounted an investigation after a member of the public made a complaint that the estate agent was seeking to charge house hunters a €2,000 deposit in exchange for a place on a priority waiting list for a new housing development.

The authority stated that it was satisfied that the estate agency did not charge any prospective purchaser a deposit to secure an allocation of a property in the next phase of the development.

However, the Authority found that by requesting a deposit of €2,000 from house hunters, the estate agent “sought a monetary reward” for placing their name on the priority waiting list.

In the anonymised case study, it states in the authority’s view, “this was improper conduct as it constituted a form of inducement within the meaning of the Minimum Standards Regulations”.

As a result, the Authority made a finding of improper conduct, “and imposed a minor sanction of a warning” on the estate agent.

The report records that in 2023, 67 complaints against Property Service Providers were concluded after an investigation and in 44 cases – 65.67% – improper conduct was found and a minor sanction was imposed and in one case improper conduct was found and a major sanction was imposed.

Concerning the major sanction imposed, the report states that following an investigation, which related to the misappropriation of client funds by an estate agent, the Authority ruled the estate agent was banned from applying for a new licence for a period of six months.

The sanction was confirmed by the President of the High Court on 23 October 2023.

In a separate compliance case, the authority reports that the Authority appointed inspectors to conduct a compliance audit investigation on a licensed Property Services Provider who provided sales and letting services.

The scope of the compliance audit centred on the handling of deposits and client funds and the investigation found that the licensed Property Services Provider had breached various sections of the Act and Client Moneys Regulations.

This included the lodgement of non-client moneys to the client account; cash withdrawals from the client account and the transfer of moneys from the client account to the office account to facilitate cash payments to persons other than clients.

A total of 14 breaches of the Client Moneys Regulations 2012 were identified by inspectors and the Inspectors were satisfied that improper conduct by the licensed Property Services Provider had occurred.

A sanction was imposed in two parts – a payment of €5,000 to the Authority in respect of costs for carrying out the investigation and a payment of €5,000 to the Authority by way of financial penalty.

The sanction was unopposed by the licensed Property Services Provider and the sanctions were confirmed by the President of the High Court on 16 January 2023.

The authority operates the Property Price Register and it states that it recorded more than 1.5m visitors to the register in 2023.