Silence on death homes

Agents fail to reveal dodgy history to buyers, renters

GOLD Coast home buyers and renters are often not being told their new home was once the scene of a bloody murder, or could be a toxic time bomb left behind by an illegal drug lab.

Although laws were introduced last year under which real estate agents can be fined up to $117,800 for “concealing a material fact”, some agents are failing to tell clients about a home’s dodgy history.

An emergency services source said the big worry for residents was toxins from chemical labs. “If we go to a crime scene and someone is shot, you will find the police will pull that piece of bloody carpet out,” the source said.

“With an amphetamine lab, if the product gets into the floor it will be contaminated and remain there.

“A large percentage of the crimes with amphetamines are located in public housing.

“The Government has a duty of care to the tenants of those houses but when you get into the private sphere, the police are only obliged to tell – they serve a notice on the owner.”

Cleaning companies confirmed they were often contracted by police to clean up murder and suicide scenes but rarely received jobs from the private sector to remove the toxins left behind by drug labs.

“People ring up and find out the cost and they drop the phone,” one cleaner said.

“We haven’t done any meth labs but we know amphetamines are everywhere.” A spokesman for the Office of Fair Trading said under a new law real estate agents had a duty to disclose any “material fact”.

“Buyers would reasonably expect to be made aware of such history if it might affect their decision as to whether or not to purchase the property,” the spokesman said.

REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella admitted crime scene homes were “a grey and complex area”.

“REIQ best practice guidelines are if you are aware of information about a property which could materially impact whether someone buys or rents it, then you should probably err on the side of caution and disclose that information,” she said.

However, it did not mean the information had to be in the sales listing.

“Obviously, some of us have a greater sensitivity to these things,” Ms Mercorella said.

“Some people through religious beliefs aren’t able to live in a home after a death and other people have superstitions.

“Then you get some people who can detach from these things quite easily.”

LJ Hooker Nerang agent Jane Doogan said she knew of a Gold Coast house that had been riddled with bullet holes and then sold.

“How do the people who fired the bullets know the people they were aiming for are no longer there,” she said.

“If you noticed those (bullet holes), you’d feel very angry towards the agent. “We have a duty to be transparent at all times. “You have to be mindful of what’s happened

in a house.”