From the weekend Sydney Morning Herald:
ENERGY efficiency in NSW homes is becoming riddled with cheating and mistakes, and NSW is falling behind other states in terms of smart power use, the industry body for measuring energy performance says.
The Association of Building Sustainability Assessors says the introduction of online ''do-it-yourself'' measurement kits for home owners has led to widespread errors under the state's Building Sustainability Index, known as BASIX.
The government said the claim was unfounded, and that NSW performed equal to or better than other states in terms of energy efficiency, and in any case it was the building assessors' job to detect cheatsRead more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/claims-of-cheating-and-mistakes-in-energy-use-20110902-1jq66.html#ixzz1X7nkuQ75
No direct state-by-state comparison is possible due to a lack of recent data, along with different measurement methods.
The body said the introduction of a free online tool for measuring household energy performance meant thousands of people completing their BASIX certificates online were being misled by green claims. NSW should participate in the national ''six star'' system for energy ratings, it said.
''I see a lot of clients [who] need to get compliance, so they'll tick the fluorescent lighting box because that's a cheap and easy one but they have no intention of keeping the fluoros in there,'' said Tracey Cools, the managing director of Efficient Living, an energy certifier. ''But they'll put them in at the time the certifier comes in there and does the check, and then they'll go back and put their halogens in because that's what they want … There's a lot of cheating that goes on around the DIY system.''
People are being led to believe they are building energy efficient homes but standards were higher in the rest of the country, she said. ''We're a huge way behind the rest of Australia.''
The policy manager of the association, Ross Maher, said there were many anecdotal reports of errors, including fundamental ones such as incorrect floor areas being given for houses, , suggesting a less-than-rigorous approach to filling out BASIX assessments.
Showing posts with label Business Ethics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business Ethics. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Home Insulation Test Results
One in four homes inspected after the Federal Government's botched home insulation scheme had varying levels of safety risk and did not meet national building safety standards.
To quote Alison Rehn of the Daily Telegraph, "the disastrous $2.45 billion pink batts program" was axed 12 months ago following the deaths of four installers, many reported injuries, 205 house fires, and scores of complaints about shonky installations and dodgy operators.
Some 58,000 houses had foil insulation fitted. Because of the higher perceived hazard risk with this material, the Government committed to inspect every foil-fitted house, and of the 44,000 inspected so far nearly a third have had the insulation removed, and half of the rest needed safety switches installed.
About 1,100,000 homes had non-foil products installed, perceived to be less of a hazard. However of the 141,000 homes fitted with non-foil insulation products that were targeted for safety inspections, 34,000 (24%) did not comply with standards. The paper doesn't explain why the Government proposed only to inspect little more than ten percent of the houses with non-foil insulation. Perhaps now that the results are in, showing that 24% of those inspected are defective, they will reconsider, and should consider testing all the remaining 83,000 homes!
A number of legal claims are in the offing. One also wonders if anything is being done to compensate the poor honest businesses who stocked up on insulation material only to have the demand slashed by the cancellation of the program.
Alison's word, "disastrous", is certainly appropriate.
To quote Alison Rehn of the Daily Telegraph, "the disastrous $2.45 billion pink batts program" was axed 12 months ago following the deaths of four installers, many reported injuries, 205 house fires, and scores of complaints about shonky installations and dodgy operators.
Some 58,000 houses had foil insulation fitted. Because of the higher perceived hazard risk with this material, the Government committed to inspect every foil-fitted house, and of the 44,000 inspected so far nearly a third have had the insulation removed, and half of the rest needed safety switches installed.
About 1,100,000 homes had non-foil products installed, perceived to be less of a hazard. However of the 141,000 homes fitted with non-foil insulation products that were targeted for safety inspections, 34,000 (24%) did not comply with standards. The paper doesn't explain why the Government proposed only to inspect little more than ten percent of the houses with non-foil insulation. Perhaps now that the results are in, showing that 24% of those inspected are defective, they will reconsider, and should consider testing all the remaining 83,000 homes!
A number of legal claims are in the offing. One also wonders if anything is being done to compensate the poor honest businesses who stocked up on insulation material only to have the demand slashed by the cancellation of the program.
Alison's word, "disastrous", is certainly appropriate.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
John McGrath Hates Underquoting
John McGrath's blog of 12 April 2010, responding to a question about underquoting, says:
"Hey Sonja, I agree, it's a pet hate of mine too. Guides should reflect the Agent's opinion and the Vendor's expectation. I hope it wasn’t a sale connected with our firm but if it was please let me know so I can look at it right away. John McGrath."
John, you should check out the 14 Allerton sale last month. Quote price $900,000, sale price $1,117,000, 24% over guide! Yet a comparable house next door sold a year ago for $1,116,000 so luckily for Wayne this one sold below market price.
While you are at it, John, check out all the other recent Wayne Vaughan sales:
8 Dennistone Rd Eastwood 20% over guide.
17 Railway Ave Eastwood 19% over guide.
55 Eastview Ave N Ryde 19% over guide.
74 Ray Road Epping 14% over guide.
24 Angus Avenue Epping 12% over guide.
He almost got 1/17 Pinner Close N Epping right, only 9% over guide.
Wayne is in good company though, Betty Ockerlander of Better Homes clocked up:
41 Stanley Rd Epping 18% over guide.
30 Surrey St Epping 17% over guide.
28 Cecil St Dennistone E 16% over guide.
Come on, OFT, protect the buyers. Let's see some prosecutions to stamp out this pernicious practice. Unfortunately the maximum fine is only $22,000, which is less than the commission, but the OFT can take away the licence of repeat offenders.
Wayne is now being investigated by OFT, so will have to be careful not to sell any of his present under-quoted listings for the correct market price, or he could lose his licence. An interesting problem for an agent, trying to persuade buyers to settle below market price!
"Hey Sonja, I agree, it's a pet hate of mine too. Guides should reflect the Agent's opinion and the Vendor's expectation. I hope it wasn’t a sale connected with our firm but if it was please let me know so I can look at it right away. John McGrath."
John, you should check out the 14 Allerton sale last month. Quote price $900,000, sale price $1,117,000, 24% over guide! Yet a comparable house next door sold a year ago for $1,116,000 so luckily for Wayne this one sold below market price.
While you are at it, John, check out all the other recent Wayne Vaughan sales:
8 Dennistone Rd Eastwood 20% over guide.
17 Railway Ave Eastwood 19% over guide.
55 Eastview Ave N Ryde 19% over guide.
74 Ray Road Epping 14% over guide.
24 Angus Avenue Epping 12% over guide.
He almost got 1/17 Pinner Close N Epping right, only 9% over guide.
Wayne is in good company though, Betty Ockerlander of Better Homes clocked up:
41 Stanley Rd Epping 18% over guide.
30 Surrey St Epping 17% over guide.
28 Cecil St Dennistone E 16% over guide.
Come on, OFT, protect the buyers. Let's see some prosecutions to stamp out this pernicious practice. Unfortunately the maximum fine is only $22,000, which is less than the commission, but the OFT can take away the licence of repeat offenders.
Wayne is now being investigated by OFT, so will have to be careful not to sell any of his present under-quoted listings for the correct market price, or he could lose his licence. An interesting problem for an agent, trying to persuade buyers to settle below market price!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Federal Government now selling NSW Silver!
According to the SMH, the federal Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, and Kristina Keneally will sign a contract for the Epping to Parramatta train line before the state election, even though Mr Albanese must know Kristina will be turfed out of office in that election! The contract will be worded so that the $2.1 billion federal funding cannot be re-allocated to suit the wishes of the NSW electorate! So much for democracy!
Barry O'Farrell says the state needs the north-west rail link much more urgently than the E/P train. Surely if the electorate agrees with him, Kristina should not with a clear conscience be able to over-rule that majority view.
Mr Albanese is quoted as saying "this federal Labour government doesn't renegotiate our commitments; we deliver on them." Surely then he shouldn't be negotiating now with the failed NSW Labour government, but should wait until the taxpayers have voted. Then he can negotiate in good faith with the real NSW government.
The SMH says that the matter might be irrelevant. The NSW state will be expected to provide $520 million at the start of the project, but the federal government's contribution of $2.1 billion won't be required until 2014. By then the federal governments could also have changed hands. But in the meantime NSW taxpayers will be up for however much of our money the state manages to spend before Mr O'Farrell cancels the project.
Barry O'Farrell says the state needs the north-west rail link much more urgently than the E/P train. Surely if the electorate agrees with him, Kristina should not with a clear conscience be able to over-rule that majority view.
Mr Albanese is quoted as saying "this federal Labour government doesn't renegotiate our commitments; we deliver on them." Surely then he shouldn't be negotiating now with the failed NSW Labour government, but should wait until the taxpayers have voted. Then he can negotiate in good faith with the real NSW government.
The SMH says that the matter might be irrelevant. The NSW state will be expected to provide $520 million at the start of the project, but the federal government's contribution of $2.1 billion won't be required until 2014. By then the federal governments could also have changed hands. But in the meantime NSW taxpayers will be up for however much of our money the state manages to spend before Mr O'Farrell cancels the project.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Better Homes Realty
In November Better Homes was advertising a property in Cheltenham Road for $700,000 prior to auction, but after it was passed in they increased the price to a more realistic $875,000. I thought that method of conning would-be buyers into paying for building surveys was actually against the law?
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Sales Agreements
In October I reported on a McGrath exclusive sales agreement that requires vendors to give thirty days notice of terminating the agreement. What the vendor telling me this didn't know was that, once you give that notice, McGrath remove the sign from outside the property and take the listing off the internet! Meanwhile the agency agreement is still in force and the owner can't risk signing up with anyone else!
PS Soon after posting the above, McGrath sent the vendor a letter releasing him from the agency agreement, but including the phrase "if the property is purchased by somebody that has been introduced by McGrath (agency name) during the period (dates of the original contract) or within the next 90 days commencing (date of this letter) a commission fee of (commission in the contract) will be payable on completion of the sale."
Taken to its extreme, this allows McGrath to claim the full commission if anybody who entered their office over this entire seven month period ever buys the property at any time into the distant future!
The only redeeming feature is that the paragraph does not specify to whom the commission is to be paid, so the vendor would meet this 'obligation' by paying commission to the agency that negotiates the sale!
Even without that flaw in the wording, I am assured that this sort of open ended 'payment for nothing' clause would never be enforced by a court, but it has caused deep distress to the vendor.
PS Soon after posting the above, McGrath sent the vendor a letter releasing him from the agency agreement, but including the phrase "if the property is purchased by somebody that has been introduced by McGrath (agency name) during the period (dates of the original contract) or within the next 90 days commencing (date of this letter) a commission fee of (commission in the contract) will be payable on completion of the sale."
Taken to its extreme, this allows McGrath to claim the full commission if anybody who entered their office over this entire seven month period ever buys the property at any time into the distant future!
The only redeeming feature is that the paragraph does not specify to whom the commission is to be paid, so the vendor would meet this 'obligation' by paying commission to the agency that negotiates the sale!
Even without that flaw in the wording, I am assured that this sort of open ended 'payment for nothing' clause would never be enforced by a court, but it has caused deep distress to the vendor.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Paying for Financial Advice
A delightful quote from Warren Buffett is "Don't ask the barber whether you need a haircut."
He is referring to the fact that financial advisers are only paid if the deal they are advising on is completed, so they are hardly going to raise concerns about the deal.
It's rather the same with pest and building inspections for houses. Some say the vendor should provide the report, to save buyers from the cost of an inspection for a house they decide not to buy. But how can the buyer know the validity of the inspection report? If the house is, say, riddled with termites, the vendor could keep having surveys done until an inspector doesn't notice, and offer that report to buyers. Indeed, word would soon go round as to which inspectors could be relied on to give favourable reports, and inspectors who were too honest would find themselves not being invited to work. The present system encourages inspectors to be thorough and honest, which surely is what the buyer needs.
He is referring to the fact that financial advisers are only paid if the deal they are advising on is completed, so they are hardly going to raise concerns about the deal.
It's rather the same with pest and building inspections for houses. Some say the vendor should provide the report, to save buyers from the cost of an inspection for a house they decide not to buy. But how can the buyer know the validity of the inspection report? If the house is, say, riddled with termites, the vendor could keep having surveys done until an inspector doesn't notice, and offer that report to buyers. Indeed, word would soon go round as to which inspectors could be relied on to give favourable reports, and inspectors who were too honest would find themselves not being invited to work. The present system encourages inspectors to be thorough and honest, which surely is what the buyer needs.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Westpac still taking stick
Gail Kelly is desperately trying to restore her image after the disastrous recent PR from an over-the top interest increase, and a rather childish banana smoothy advert. Now Gail is talking up the importance of customer service and the bank's commitment to relationships and reliability. Isn't that exactly what the original PR problems were all about?
Adele Ferguson of the SMH goes so far as to say Westpac "has been the least kind to home loan customers", with home loan variable rates consistently an average 17 basis points above the competition.
Apparently this is the first time in a decade that the net interest margins of all the big four banks has expanded. Thank you Kevin Rudd for your assistance to the banks, but what about the poor home owners trying to pay off their mortgages during a financial crisis?
Adele Ferguson of the SMH goes so far as to say Westpac "has been the least kind to home loan customers", with home loan variable rates consistently an average 17 basis points above the competition.
Apparently this is the first time in a decade that the net interest margins of all the big four banks has expanded. Thank you Kevin Rudd for your assistance to the banks, but what about the poor home owners trying to pay off their mortgages during a financial crisis?
Friday, November 20, 2009
Bathroom Renovation Problems - bad management
The owner of the property who had bathroom renovations done, mentioned earlier in this blog (eg Nov 17), complained about some mess left behind by one of the renovator's contractors. Their response? To tell the contractor they wouldn't pay him, and to give him the owner's mobile phone number! So next thing, the owner had a weeping contractor explaining in broken English that he wasn't going to get paid for the work he had done.
This pic is only a small part of the mess, taken a month after the work finished, but the question is, who is responsible for finishing a job properly? The individual sub-contractors involved, or the company that took the owner's money?
An interesting exercise in ethics, acceptance of responsibility, passing the buck, and a few other business related issues.
This pic is only a small part of the mess, taken a month after the work finished, but the question is, who is responsible for finishing a job properly? The individual sub-contractors involved, or the company that took the owner's money?
An interesting exercise in ethics, acceptance of responsibility, passing the buck, and a few other business related issues.
Friday, October 30, 2009
How to boost your agency's listings
Did you hear the story of someone who just happened to notice his house listed as having been sold, on an estate agency's window displays? That was the first he heard about it! It seems the agency was a bit short of real listings and sales to brag about, so they just photographed a few nice looking houses and put them in the window! As sales, so people wouldn't walk in wanting to see round them.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
I hate web sites that con you!
I found an interesting sounding site on Google, and clicked it. Up came the offer "Find Agent", and "Find the right agent. Enter your post code" and a four digit entry window. Interested to see which of our local agents they would recommend, I typed in my post code, and all I got was an opportunity to register with SellmyCastle.com.au.
There was no response at all to my request to find the right agent!
Just for fun I went ahead and registered, which meant entering all my house details, and now I await the results.
It infuriates me how some sites use such gimicks to suck you in. If they are not going to attempt to tell me "the right agent in your post code" then why have that offer on their front page?
Oh, and it's not just on the front page. Further into the site I found a finance page, and again was invited "Find mortgage broker" and again "enter your post code" and a four digit entry window. And guess what? Entering my post code had no effect at all, just another invite to register with them.
There was no response at all to my request to find the right agent!
Just for fun I went ahead and registered, which meant entering all my house details, and now I await the results.
It infuriates me how some sites use such gimicks to suck you in. If they are not going to attempt to tell me "the right agent in your post code" then why have that offer on their front page?
Oh, and it's not just on the front page. Further into the site I found a finance page, and again was invited "Find mortgage broker" and again "enter your post code" and a four digit entry window. And guess what? Entering my post code had no effect at all, just another invite to register with them.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Poaching Customers - Unethical not illegal
A number of real estate agencies in the Beecroft/Cheltenham area are contacting landlords of managed rental properties, trying to poach their business. In the property rental area, this is not actually illegal, although the real estate industry considers it to be very unethical.
But the privacy issues are more significant. Unauthorised use of personal information is nowadays illegal.
Having the largest local rent roll, Ray White Beecroft is the obvious target for this activity. Lydia Merrill, proprietor of RWB, never gives out personal details of her clients, so if another agency has such personal information then they must have obtained it by deception or theft. If they use that information then to contact her clients they are breaking the law. Lydia would like any of her clients who are contacted by other agencies in this way to contact her.
But the privacy issues are more significant. Unauthorised use of personal information is nowadays illegal.
Having the largest local rent roll, Ray White Beecroft is the obvious target for this activity. Lydia Merrill, proprietor of RWB, never gives out personal details of her clients, so if another agency has such personal information then they must have obtained it by deception or theft. If they use that information then to contact her clients they are breaking the law. Lydia would like any of her clients who are contacted by other agencies in this way to contact her.
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