REINZ members packed a select committee room yesterday to argue against aspects of a Bill covering the real estate industry.
Last year, Mr Cosgrove announced the the Real Estate Agents Bill to shake up the current in-house regime run by REINZ.
That regime has been criticised for weak penalties, unnecessary delays and a reluctance to refer complaints to its more powerful licensing board.
Under the Bill, REINZ would be stripped of its regulatory powers, with a new independent Real Estate Agents Authority established that would oversee licensing, complaints and disciplinary action for the nation's 18,000 agents.
The new disciplinary tribunal proposed in the Bill would have the power to fine individuals up to $15,000 and companies up to $30,000.
REINZ president Murray Cleland, vice-president Mike Elford, chief executive Christine Le Cren and constitutional lawyer Mai Chen appeared before Parliament's justice and electoral committee yesterday.
They said that while they had no argument with the new authority being set up, there would be a gap between the Bill being passed into law and the new disciplinary body being established.
REINZ has proposed the establishment of an independent Real Estate Complaints and Licensing Commission that would have a board appointed by the minister but include a minority of industry representatives nominated by REINZ.
It said it should have an investigation unit, which would include experienced real estate agents, and would receive public complaints.
It would also have an assessment unit - to assess the appropriate action following complaints - a prosecution unit, and a trust account/anti-money laundering audit unit.
It said that instead of creating the new and expensive ‘‘super authority'' proposed by the Government, a more streamlined body could be established to deal with matters such as investigations and prosecutions to ensure independence.
Mr Cosgrove said REINZ was proposing a co-regulatory body but this proposal had not been raised with him before.
Under the Bill, members of REINZ could be appointed to the new authority, although that would not be a statutory requirement, he said.
At yesterday's committee hearing, REINZ said the Bill did not cover property managers and residential letting and leasing agents.
Mr Cosgrove said that was because property managers posed considerably less risk to consumers than other real estate services.
Suggestions by REINZ that one in five complaints were about property managers had not come from any robust data but a ‘‘ring-around'' of its members, he said.
Ms Chen told the committee the six months the Government had taken to draft the Bill was a short time for such an industry overhaul.
