New Zealand Requires Agent Safety Checks
The real estate community in New Zealand is educating visitors at open houses about safety, pointing out that they need to watch their step on decks and use handrails on staircases.
Under new health and safety legislation, The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand is requiring all real estate professionals to take "reasonably practical" steps to ensure the safety of visitors at open houses. It recommends briefing each visitor upon arrival, such as by reading a list of potential risks and hazards before they view the home. Some agents are even requiring visitors to sign a waiver to acknowledge they received a list of risks and that they'll agree to proceed with caution.
Some professionals are also posting sandwich boards at the entrance of homes that list potential hazards, or posting signs on tiled floors reading "slippery when wet."
One house hunter who visited a recent open house says she was asked to sign waivers after reading a list of potential hazards, including a laundry room step. The waivers also stated she must be willing to take responsibility for any injuries she might suffer in the home.
"I thought it was really odd, very much treating me like a child," says Mel Street of Christchurch.
Some real estate professionals say they feel the new rules are cumbersome, and some agencies say they now have to have two agents at an open house — one to manage the safety checks and the other to talk more directly about the home.
Potential risks, such as an open trench or a room still under renovation, may be good areas to flag for visitors, but "as far as normal household conditions like steps and drive ways … I think its over-egging things to be going that far," says John Tulloch, communications manager for WorkSafe New Zealand.
Some real estate professionals say the safety checks should be more part of the talks with the home owners during listing appointments and how to remedy any possible red flags.
"If there was a significant hazard identified during the listing process that the vendor didn't want to rectify, we'd have to sit down and work out whether we'd take the listing — a deck that was rotten on the first or second floor, something that was pretty major," says Graeme Fraser, head of agency operations for Ray White New Zealand.
But flagging every single potential hazard at an open house is "over the top," says Wellington REINZ spokesman Euan Murrell. "It is becoming a nightmare," Murrell told reporters. "If we did everything that we were expected to do, you probably wouldn't do open homes."
Source: “Real Estate Agents ‘Over Egging’ Safety with Open Home Briefings and Waivers,” Stuff.co.nz (June 21, 2016)
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