Block auction sparks scrutiny over dual buyer proxies
An auction at The Block drew scrutiny after an OBrien Real Estate executive bid for buyers on a home his firm was selling. The buyers had also appointed…
Block auction sparks scrutiny after an OBrien Real Estate executive bid for buyers at an auction in which his colleagues represented the seller. The buyers were travelling in Japan and had authorised him to bid on their behalf.
The arrangement drew attention because the same buyers had also engaged another buyer’s agent for a separate home at the auction event. They later bought that property through the second agent, rather than through the OBrien executive.
The auction for House 4, conducted by The Auction Company’s Paul Tzamalis on behalf of OBrien Real Estate, ended at $4.72m, above its $3.45m reserve. The successful purchase came from a different couple; the buyers represented by OBrien’s Andrew Martin stopped bidding.
The episode has prompted the country’s leading buyers’ advocacy industry group to urge prospective homebuyers to think carefully before appointing real estate agents to bid, especially when the agent works for the firm selling the property.
Why did the Block auction draw scrutiny?
The concern centres on the possibility of a conflict of interest when an agent from the selling firm also bids for a prospective buyer. Martin said he had no direct role in selling House 4, which OBrien colleagues Stavros Ambatzidis and Kayn Luff represented.
Martin said he had signed paperwork as a buyer’s advocate for his separate business, BID360. He also said he did not charge the buyers for bidding on their behalf.
“I was representing buyers travelling through Japan and signed a form as a buyer’s advocate for my own business BID360,” Martin said.
He argued that the arrangement could work if the bidder was not the listing agent, and said he viewed himself as independent. Martin also said the process was not greatly different from an agent helping a buyer who was present, though he had completed documentation authorising him to act for the clients.
There are laws barring real estate agents from directly working for both the seller and buyer of a property, particularly when they receive fees from both sides. Such an arrangement would give the agent fiduciary duties to both parties, creating a conflict of interest.
That distinction is central to the scrutiny: Martin said he was not involved in the sale and did not charge the buyers, while the seller’s representatives were his OBrien colleagues. The buyers’ advocacy group’s warning asks prospective clients to consider the relationship between a bidder and the agency handling the sale.
Two agents, two properties
The buyers had also engaged Andrew Date separately to bid for House 5, the final property auctioned that day. They bought House 5 through Date, not Martin.
Date confirmed that the client had made the arrangement voluntarily, although it surprised him. He said he would not have bid for House 5 if the buyer had secured House 4.
“I’m a professional bidder and he is a professional auctioneer. So there are differences in bidding for someone versus calling an auction,” Date said.
The buyers therefore had two authorised representatives in the auction room, each assigned to a different property. Martin’s clients withdrew from the House 4 contest before turning to House 5 with Date.
The wider event also produced a major result for contestants Courtney and Sev. Their House 4 auction reached $4.72m, well above the reserve, and they collected $1.27m from the auction.
Their combined haul reached $1.87m, including the value of prizes won during filming earlier in the year and a $100,000 bonus for recording the show’s biggest sale price. They became the most successful contestants in the show’s history.
Martin said he was glad his clients stopped bidding for House 4 because he believed the couple who ultimately bought it could not be stopped. The buyers later purchased House 5 through Date.
