REIV Information Outrage!

How low can the Real Estate Institute of Victoria sink? The Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) is now using the Privacy Act 1988 to tighten its greedy and monopolistic fist around information that should be freely available to the media and consumers. It's high time the regulating authorities took a close look at the anti-competitive behaviour of the REIV.

For some time now, real estate industry commentators have been predicting that the information revolution will bring about fundamental change in the last of the great monopolies: the real estate industry.

No longer are consumers totally reliant on the estate agent when selling or purchasing real estate. Mobile telephones, computers and most importantly of all, the internet, have loosened the estate agent's grip on the information consumers need to find properties or purchasers.

Never before have consumers been so able to sell real estate privately. Vendors and purchasers alike are able to find comparative sales figures on the internet, or to pay independent valuers or data collators for the information they need. No role here for the estate agent.

So what do estate agents do when they are threatened by informed consumers who have the capacity to bypass them and attend to the simple task of selling real estate without having to pay unjustifiable and exorbitant commissions?

They do what the REIV is attempting to do - they rearrange the information plumbing so that information must pass through the REIV taps for dissemination to the public.

Independent and Transparent Sharing of Information

The REIV has provided its agent members with a form titled "Privacy Act 1988 Collection and Use of Personal Information Code 002". The supposed purpose of this form, is to seek the vendor's permission to advise a number of bodies of the sale.

The REIV, in consumer propaganda mode, tells the client that the purpose of providing sale information to the various bodies is to enable "...any or all of them to collect and/or document details of sales of real estate and/or cause to be published in print or electronic form details of sales of real estate for the benefit of estate agents, valuers, government departments, statutory or municipal bodies, and the general public so there is an informed and transparent real estate market.".

Until recently, the bodies to whom sale information would be provided included:

	The Real Estate Institute of Victoria;
	Real Estate View (a website developed jointly by the REIV and estate agents; and
	Media organisations

Now, remember that a stated purpose of this information gathering exercise is to enable the collection of sale information "so there is an informed and transparent real estate market".

Exclusion of Independent Bodies

The new version of this document looks similar, but there is a small change. The media organisations are now excluded from the list of those to whom the sale information will be provided.

The new form lists those eligible to receive sale information as:

	The Real Estate Institute of Victoria; and
	Real Estate View

The difference is subtle, but highly significant. You see, by removing the words "and/or media organisations" the REIV has permission from the client to provide sale information only to the REIV and its associated website.

All Must Drink From The REIV Well

By changing the Privacy Act form, the REIV effectively seals the well, installs a tap, and controls access to the flow of sale data.

Any independent media organisation wanting sale information will have to approach the REIV. The REIV is in a position to refuse to provide any raw data because it can now state that it has only limited permission to disseminate it. Presumably, the REIV will be able to prepare its own statistics and distribute these.

In other words, the REIV now controls the well from which all others must drink.

Clever Manipulation of the Privacy Act - But Who Cares?

The purpose of the Privacy Act 1988 is to protect private information. However, the change to the Privacy Act form is nothing more than a clever manipulation of the Act for the benefit of those who see their monopolistic power slipping away.

How does the REIV answer the question, "How does limiting the availability of data to the REIV and Property View help the to ensure that there is an informed and transparent real estate market?"

Given the interest that the regulating authorities have shown in this industry, a better question would be, "Who cares?"

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