THE IRISH Auctioneers and Valuers Institute (IAVI) is paying a total of over €150,000 to housebuyers who lost their deposits with the collapse of a Co Wicklow firm of estate agents.
The IAVI has also expelled Niall Hassett of Dalbury Consultants Ltd, trading as Hassett Estate Agents in Enniskerry and Greystones, for six breaches of its rules of conduct.
An unspecified number of the firm’s customers, believed to number over 30, are recouping their deposits after making claims from the IAVI’s voluntary compensation fund.
So far, about €100,000 has been paid out, with the largest amount being €25,000, but the total is expected to be about €150,000.
Hassett Estate Agents closed last April shortly after three visits by the IAVI’s auditors, who examined the operation of the firm’s client account.
IAVI chief executive Alan Cooke said the company had failed to keep the client account in accordance with legislation, and compensation had been paid out after a shortfall emerged in the account.
The firm, which ceased to be a member of the IAVI last December, was also found to have breached rules on protection of clients’ interests and the carrying out of duties with the expected degree of care and skill, as well as issues relating to professional indemnity insurance and licensing.
Mr Cooke said this was the first payment from the institute’s compensation fund since 1999, when a claim of €60,000 was paid out. He contrasted this record with the millions of euro paid out from the solicitors’ compensation fund in recent years. About 450 IAVI member firms are covered by the fund.
The firm’s most recent accounts, filed last March with the Companies’ Registration Office, show accumulated losses of over €263,000. The directors indicated they would not be in a position to continue trading.
Attempts to reach Mr Hassett yesterday were unsuccessful.
Hassett Estate Agents has no connection with another IAVI member, Hassett and Fitzsimons, which continues to trade in Dublin.