Disciplinary action is to be taken against auctioneers who deliberately set misleading guideline prices in house sales, the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute (IAVI) said yesterday. The maximum fine the IAVI may impose is £5,000.
The guide price is intended to indicate approximately what price the house is likely to fetch at auction.
Mr Alan Cooke, IAVI chief executive, said they were recognising the recent evidence that some firms were setting clearly incorrect guidelines. The IAVI believes that a guide price should generally be within 10 per cent of the anticipated sale. From September 1st next, where a property is withdrawn at a figure which greatly exceeds the guideline price, a IAVI member firm will have to demonstrate that this resulted from circumstances beyond the agent's control, such as altered instructions from the vendor immediately prior to the auction.
