Is mandatory disclosure an effective consumer protection.pdfVIP

This is author version of article published as: Miller, Evonne and Duncan, William D. and Christensen, Sharon A. and Corones, Stephen G. and Round, David and Burdon, Mark and Stickley, Amanda P. (2006) Is mandatory disclosure an effective consumer protection mechanism in Australian real estate markets? The perspective of Queensland industry experts . In Proceedings Social Change in the 21st Century Conference, Brisbane. Copyright 2006 (please consult author) Is mandatory disclosure an effective consumer protection mechanism in Australian real estate markets? The perspective of Queensland industry experts 1 2 2 2 3 Miller, E ., Duncan, W ., Christensen, S ., Corones, S ., Round, D , Burdon, M2 ., Stickley, A2 1Centre for Social Change Research, Queensland University of Technology 2Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology 3Centre for Regulation and Market Analysis, University of South Australia Abstract This exploratory qualitative study investigates the reaction of the selling side of the real estate market to mandatory disclosure of information as a consumer protection mechanism in residential property transactions, the largest purchase most consumers will ever make. In Australia, where mandatory disclosure requirements for vendors, mortgage providers and real estate agents vary on a state by state basis from stringent to no formal legal information requirements, little is known about the relative effectiveness of different disclosure regimes or whether the red tape and compliance costs of disclosure may outweigh the benefits. To address this research gap, in-depth interviews were conducted with five Queensland industry experts