On the weekend of 24 July 2026, more than 30 Consumer Affairs Victoria inspectors fanned out across auctions in Merri-bek and Darebin. They weren’t responding to complaints. They were simply there — watching campaigns run, talking to agents about their obligations, and talking to buyers about their rights.
For agency principals, that detail is the whole story. Regulators are no longer waiting for a complaint to land before they turn up.
The taskforce, by the numbers
Victoria’s Underquoting Taskforce was established in 2022. Consumer Affairs Victoria reports that since then it has:
- monitored more than 3,200 sales campaigns
- attended more than 500 auctions
- issued more than 400 official warnings
- issued more than 260 fines, totalling around $3 million
- received more than 8,800 complaints through its dedicated web form
The last figure carries a sting worth pausing on. Consumer Affairs Victoria Director Nicole Rich has noted that roughly one in three of those complaints came from competing estate agents. Your compliance record is not only being assessed by a regulator with finite resources. It is being watched, in real time, by every other agency working the same streets — and a meaningful share of them are willing to pick up the phone.
The taskforce is also prepared to litigate. Former Glen Waverley agency Harcourts Judd White and three of its representatives are facing court over multiple alleged underquoting breaches.
Rich’s summary of the winter blitz was, on its face, positive: “We know most agents want to do the right thing and it was pleasing to see well-run auctions over the weekend.” That is a reasonable characterisation of the industry. It is also a reminder that “most agents” is the benchmark the exceptions get measured against.
What’s actually being checked
Underquoting enforcement in Victoria is grounded in the Statement of Information regime. For every residential sales campaign, agents must prepare an approved Statement of Information that is displayed at all open for inspections and included with online advertising. It must show an indicative selling price — either a single figure or a range no wider than 10 per cent — the three most comparable sold properties, and the suburb’s median house or unit price.
The comparables are where campaigns come undone. Properties must be of a similar standard or condition, sold within six months and two kilometres in metropolitan Melbourne (18 months and five kilometres outside it). Agents must use all the sales data available to them, and cannot hide behind confidentiality arrangements to avoid the obligation. Qualifying terms such as “offers above”, “from” or a trailing ”+” are not permitted, and an advertised price cannot sit below the estimated selling price, the vendor’s asking price, or a written offer already rejected.
The consequences are not nominal. Under the Estate Agents Act 1980, underquoting carries a maximum of 240 penalty units — a little over $50,000 at the 2026-27 penalty unit value of $209.10 — and agents risk forfeiting sales commission, in serious cases all of it. Consumer Affairs Victoria also points to Australian Consumer Law exposure, where maximum penalties doubled on 28 March 2026: for corporations, the greater of $100 million, three times the benefit obtained, or 30 per cent of adjusted turnover, and $2.5 million for individuals.
And more is coming. In November 2025 the Victorian Government announced Australian-first laws requiring agents to publish the vendor’s reserve price at least seven days before an auction or fixed-date sale, with marketing material updated to match. Agencies would be wise to start designing the workflow now rather than waiting for commencement.
The read-across for every agency, in every state
Here is the part that matters beyond Victoria’s sales desks.
The Underquoting Taskforce is a case study in how regulators across Australia and New Zealand increasingly work: proactive field inspections rather than complaint-driven audits, a public reporting channel that lowers the cost of dobbing, published enforcement statistics that signal intent, and a documentary standard that assumes you can produce your working.
That last element is the one most agencies underestimate. An inspector at an auction is not asking whether you believed the price range was fair. They are asking to see how you selected your comparables and what records you kept. The obligation is evidentiary, not attitudinal.
Trust accounting operates on exactly the same logic — and Victorian agencies are in the middle of that cycle right now. Estate agent trust accounts must be audited for the financial year ended 30 June, with the audit completed within three months, and the report lodged through myCAV within 10 business days of receiving it from the auditor. Failing to lodge is an offence carrying penalties of up to 120 penalty units — a little over $25,000.
Auditors also have their own reporting duty. If they find accounts that cannot be properly audited, evidence of dishonesty, a deficiency in trust funds, or non-compliance with the legislation, they must notify Consumer Affairs Victoria directly. Your auditor is not only your adviser; in defined circumstances they are a mandatory reporter.
Five questions worth asking before September
If the auction blitz prompts one internal conversation this month, make it this one:
- Could we reconstruct any campaign from the last 12 months? Comparable selections, the reasoning behind them, and every version of the Statement of Information — retrievable, not remembered.
- Is our advertising audited before it goes live, or after someone complains? Price ranges, qualifying language and post-rejection updates are the common failure points.
- Are our trust account reconciliations current, or are we relying on the audit to find the gaps? An adverse finding almost always has a paper trail that predates it by months.
- Who owns the 30 September deadline? In agencies without a named owner, audit lodgement is the obligation most likely to be missed entirely.
- Would a competitor find anything worth reporting? Given that a third of taskforce complaints come from within the industry, this is a practical test, not a rhetorical one.
Compliance culture is not something a regulator can inspect directly. What they can inspect is the record it leaves behind. Thirty inspectors on a Melbourne winter weekend is a reminder that the record needs to be ready before anyone asks for it.
Trust Account Solutions provides outsourced trust accounting, compliance and bookkeeping for real estate agencies across Australia and New Zealand, including reconciliation, audit preparation and lodgement support. If you would like a second set of eyes on your trust account before your Victorian audit deadline lands, get in touch with our team.
Sources: Melbourne’s inner north targeted in winter auction compliance checks (24 July 2026), Underquoting information for real estate agents and Auditing estate agents trust accounts, Consumer Affairs Victoria; Bringing The Hammer Down On Underquoting, Premier of Victoria (20 November 2025); Penalties and values, Department of Justice and Community Safety Victoria; and Fines and penalties, ACCC. This article is general information for agencies, not legal advice.