LICENSING LAND AGENTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 41, 10 August 1911, Page 3

LICENSING LAND AGENTS

j MR. WJTTY'S BILL. The Land Agents Registration Bill, . introduced in the House of licpresenta--1 tives by Mr. Witty, M.P. for Kicearton, I is intended to provide for the licensing of land agents. In the interpretation I clause it is set out that a land agent 1 means a person whose business, either | alone or part oI or in connection with I any other business, is to sell land on I commission otherwise than by auction, but does not include a licensed auctioneer. QUause 3 provides that from and after January 1, 1912, no person shall carry on the business of a land' agent unless he is the holder of a license under this Act, and that it shall be suft'icient if one member of a firm is the holder of a license on behalf of the Arm. The manner of applying for the license is set out in clause 4, and this is to the effect that every person desiring to obtain a license shall lodge with the clerk of the local authority in the district whereto he resides an application in the form prescribed together with a fidelity bond for £SOO from some approved insurance company. The application shall be granted unless the local authority declared by resolution that the applicant is net a fit and proper person to receive a license. Upon the, application being granted, the clerk shall, on payment to the local authority of a fee not exceeding £2, issue the license, to take effect from (}ate of issue and expire on the 31st December of that year, and this license is for any part of New Zealand. The, issue of every license shall, within ten days after the issue thereof, be publicly notified in a newspaper circulating in the district. Clauses 6 and 7 provide for transfer of a license. Clause '8 safeguards the clients of the land agents by providing that all moneys i received by a land agent in respect of any sale of land shall be applied as follows: (a) in payment of expenses, commission, and other charges of or incidental to the sale; and (b) in payment of the balance (if any) to the person on whose behalf the sale was made or as he may direct; and until payment such balance shall be paid into a bank to a separate account, a breach of this section being punishable by a fine not exceeding £SO.

The first section of clause 0 demands that within fourteen days after tile completion of any sale the land agent shall render account of moneys received and pay over the balance as provided in the preceding section. But the second clause is a-very important one in giving a special definition of what constitutes a sale within the meaning of this Act. It says: "For the purpose of this section a sale of land shall be deemed to be complete when the agreement for the sale is signed by both parties, or by the purchaser and the agent on behalf of the vendor, and the deposit (if any) is paid." Wrongful conversion on rendering false accounts renders an agent liable to two years' imprisonment under clause 10 of the Act, and a license shall be cancelled if the holder is convicted of section K or section 10. And if any I land agent who has been convicted of any other offence under this Act is within twelve months convicted of a second or any subsequent offence against its provision, the court may order that the license be cancelled.

Every person (not being the holder of a license) who carries on business as a land agent, is liable to a fine not exceeding £SO (section 13). The final prction of the last clause reads as follows: "All license fees shall be paid to the local authority that issued the license, and that local authority, after deducting any expenses incurred in respect of the license, shall pay over the balance to the hospital and charitable aid board of that district.

A Daily News representative, chatting yesterday morning to one of the leading Taranaki land agents, in company with a representative of one of the largest agencies in Palmerston North, gathered the impression that this measure, when amended in certain directions, would be welcomed by the reputable land agents of the Dominion. But the interpretation must be amended so as to discriminate between the true land agent and the land-jobber. The Act, of course, aimed at the "pocket-book land agent," who had no place of business, but did his business on thfe street. But to eliminate him the Act should proyide for a registered place of business for every land agent, so that a person having trust moneys in the hands of an I agent should know where to go and get it. The license fee of two guineas struck him as being ridiculously small—he would make it more like £-20. As for the fidelity bond, that struck him as a sensible provision, except that he thought £SOO should be fixed as a minimum, and agents allowed to obtain guarantees for whatever larger amount they pleased. An agent might like'to. assure his client, for instance, that he was guaranteed up to £2OOO. But £SOO was scarcely sufficient, for deals were not uncommon in which land agents received £OOO or £BOO as a deposit, and if they wished to embezzle, that amount a £SOO guarantee would not be sufficient protection. Clause 9, providing for statements and paying over in a month, might frequently prove unworkable. It might not be possible, for instance, for a New Plymouth land agent to comply with it if he effected a "deal" in Otago or away up in the North Auckland district. A month would be a. fairer time to stipulate. The definition of a sale is of the utmost im-. portance, for on this point the magistrates wore agreed .to differ. Concerning clause 13, it was urged that this would not meet the case of the man who, whilst not acting as a land agent outright, often dabbled in these things, men whose ordinary occupation was quite foreign to land agency. But the clause which provided the warmest outburst was the last one of all, and the agent in question objected strongly to the proposal .that any of his license should go to the hospital and charitable aid funds. The land agents recognised that they created a good deal of traffic on county, borough, and district roads, and he considered that the local bodies entrusted with the maintenance of the roads wore entitled to whatever remained after paying the costs attached to the granting of the license. The objections noted above are being forwarded to Mr. IT. Okey, M.P., who courteously forwarded copies of the Bill to those of his constituents immediately interested.