REAL ESTATE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19748, 12 October 1929, Page 4

REAL ESTATE.

i WORK OF INSTITUTE. HIGH CODE OF ETHICS. In most respects Seal Estate Institutes are in a position to maintain a discipline over their members as strict as is exerted by organisations such as the Law Society. Frequently they hdve opposed the issue of licenses to persons i not considered suitable, and in almost } every case such action has resulted in ! a refusal on the part of the Magistrate. Originally a Land Agents' Association, the Canterbury Real Estate Institute has been in existence for seventeen yean. Its formation took place on July 30th, 1912, when a well-attended meeting was held in Montgomery's ! Building, Cashel street, Mr A. Lowry I presiding. A large committee was set jup to draft a set of rules. At several | of the early meetings the Land Agents' ! Registration Bill, 1912, was considered. I and members of the Association gave : evidence before a Parliamentary Coin- ! niittce. , ! At one of the meetings of the AssoI ciatioD 26 firms were admitted to memi bership.

j The first election of officers, on De--1 cembr-r «tb, 1912, resulted as follows: j President, Mr D. A. Baxter; vice-pre- : sident, Mr C L. Hart; secretary, Mr j E. J. Tayler; committee: Messrs J. B. ' Evans, W. H. Norton, J. E. Devereux, | E. M. Speirs, W. S. Godfrey, R. S. ; McKenzie, A. E. Craddook, C. R. Clark, . H. W. Heslop, and Austin. | Mr J. R. Evans also occupied the ' presidential chair for a time, and then ! Mr Heslop was president for a term of j eight j-ears. The title of the AssociaI tion was changed to that of the Real i Estate Institute in recent years, and i Mr C. E. Jones is now the president, : and Mr R. S. Badger the secretary.

Reasons for Formation. One of the principal reasons for the formation of the organisation was so that there might be some centralised control of land agents, and of their charges. In the course of time a code of rules, which has become more or less uniform, was adopted for the whole Dominion. It might be mentioned in passing that the New Zealand Institute owes a great deal to Mr Osmond, who toured the Dominion at his own expense in the work of forming a country-wide organisation. His efforts have been recognised by the reward of life membership, Mr Osmond being the only person at present holding this honour.

In the course of an interview Mr Heslop briefly sketched "what the Institute had done for member?, clients, and the public at large. "It has established s much better feeling among the individual land agents," he said. "The public now feel that there is a responsible body to which they can appeal for the redress of any real or imagined grievance. We have set a very high standard for members, as will be seen by our 'Code of Ethic»,' to which every member must subscribe before being elected. We really have a better control over our members than the Law Society can exert over its membership. Our license must be renewed every year, and if a land agent were to be convicted of a misdemeanour, the Institute would not hesitate to oppose the renewal of his license. This is done, and has been done, without fear or favour, and the Institute has never objected in vain. In a large number of cages when the applicants learned that the Institute was objecting, thev went no further with the matter. This healthy supervision of our profession by the Institute has done much to establish the confidence of the public. The Institute has also acted in the calling of conferences in cases where disputes have arisen between our members and tho«o of other societies."

"A Public Duty to Perform." ... i P. He . Blop said that the Institute felt that it had a public duty to perform, and in any matter affecting real estate where the public required any guidance members of the Institute were the' people to tender it. They were fitted by their training to sum up the position at once. Mr Heslop remarked that the New Zealand Institute conducted regularly examinations, which were set for the purpose of equipping members in the knowledge necessary for efficiency in their profession. Land agents were not merely actuated by anxiety to swell their receipts from commissions, and the j public were realising that it was more to then advantage to have at their service a body of people interested directly J in real estate than to be forced to go j for assistance and advice to people who j had no stake in the country. I "Most of the people who are paving rent refrain from buying their own homes because they do not possess the j courage to make the first plunge," said jMr Heslop. "Many of our clients have bought their own properties, after • Jirst paying a small deposit, sold them j at a profit, and then bought again, and j dnne likewise. One man I know by ithis means has acquired a nice home in a very desirable locality, and placed himself in a very comfortable position .financially." The terms obtained sometimes were really surprising. In one case he had sold a man a house on a £SO deposit, and had actually lent th* 1 purchaser this sum to pay down. At the time the man was temporarily* a little embarrassed, although he was in a good position, and subsequently he justified the confidence reposed in him. "We don't advise everybody to attempt to purchase a home," said Mr Heslop. "Some people, through their ' circumstances and obligations could not I undertake payments which would I amount to interest on the purchase j money. What the Institute doe* eav i very decidedly is that there is a pleasure [ derivable from owning one's home I whKh can never be experienced .n anv I rented house. Of cours?, it i? difficult j to convince men who look at +ae problem only from the mercenary standpoint. They have not the right viewpoint. Sentiment and a sense of security count for something in life. The reluctance of some people to endeavour to obtain their own"home indicate» a lack of gri* md responsibility.**