A construction worker looks over the top of Queensland Terrace
A construction worker looks over the top of Queensland Terrace, which is being constructed for Barratt Homes, next to Arsenal's Emirates Stadium in north London August 7, 2013. Reuters/Suzanne Plunkett

Laws regarding real estate price guides in Queensland are not going to be the same any more. The controversial legal changes will be effective from December 1, 2014.

The maximum rates of commission for agents are deregulated while they won't have to reveal to a buyer how much they are going to earn from an individual transaction. This brings Queensland into line with other Australian states, ABC News reported. The legal changes were made earlier in 2014 but would take effect from December. As a part of the new law, real estate agents will now be able to hold on to exclusive listings from three months. The duration of exclusive listings for such cases was two months earlier.

While some customers are worried that the new laws may mean that they have to pay more to agents as the price is not regulated any more. According to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland, on the other hand, some agents are going to earn more because of the new changes. Antonia Mercorella, the chief of executive of REIQ which pushed for the reform, said that some real estate agents were going to charge more for their work. However, the counter-argument is this case is that it can happen otherwise as it will be a highly competitive market. Mercorella said that there would be scope for the rates to come down in a deregulated commission market. "Certainly the feedback we get is the level of service required and the capped commission rate don't always make that commercially viable," he said.

According to the Property Occupations Act, there is going to be a number of changes to divide the real estate agency. News.com.au reported that banning auction price guides was the most controversial changes made by the new law. According to John McGrath, the banning of auction price guides happens to be "ludicrous." The founder of McGrath Estate Agents said that he had always advocated the use of price guides for over 33 years in the industry. The only exception when he has advocated against it is when the property is "absolutely unique with no comparable sales," he said. McGrath said that he would believe in transparency from the very first day of a campaign as price guides helped buyers make decisions. Such guides enable agents to attract

"qualified buyers" as well so that they would be willing to compete at a certain level.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au