A whopping 18 out of 24 real estate agencies in western Sydney recently audited by Fair Trading failed random inspections that tested industry standards.

The inspections were conducted over three days in December in the suburbs of Wentworthville, Toongabbie, Pendle Hill, Greystanes, Westmead and Girraween.

Part of the compliance crackdown involved checking whether businesses operated with a necessary licence, agents were sufficiently trained, there was adequate supervision, and whether ongoing professional development was maintained.

NSW Fair Trading said this particular audit was through both random inspections and the analysis of complaints data.

Minister for Better Regulation Matt Kean said many agents were not meeting industry standards and better performance was required.

“The results are totally disappointing with only six of the 24 agents inspected found to be fully compliant with NSW Fair Trading requirements,” Mr Kean said.

The three-day crackdown resulted in 30 penalty infringement notices, totalling $31,900.

“Of particular concern was one business that was found to be operating without the necessary licence, and three that were using an unaudited trust account,” Mr Kean said.

“In addition to the fines, 13 licensees or corporations were fined for failing to supervise their business, while two agents were issued with education letters,” Mr Kean.

“It’s clear these agents need to pull their socks up, and Fair Trading will continue to target those who aren’t playing by the rules to make sure consumers are put first.” Mr Kean said.

Fair Trading declined to name the agencies because of ongoing investigations.

A real estate agent with Raine&Horne in Blacktown, Edwin Almeida, questioned why western Sydney was the only region targeted in the audit.

“Are they conducting similar compliance checks on the other areas, or is this a deliberate scrutiny of the west [western Sydney] alone? I can assure you a lack of professionalism and compliance is widespread in Sydney. There’s no discrimination between brand name agencies, independents, nor ethnic or cultural backgrounds,” Mr Almeida said.

He has asked NSW Fair Trading whether inspections were conducted in Strathfield, the eastern suburbs and the CBD and how it compared with agencies in western Sydney.

A NSW Fair Trading spokeswoman said audits were conducted on an ongoing basis both in the Sydney metropolitan and regional areas of NSW but did not specify where else they had occurred.

Mr Almeida said an influx of real estate agents during Sydney’s building boom and a lack of funding for oversight and regulations for these newcomers had led to a rise of poorly trained agents.

“It’s falling over on various fronts,” Mr Almeida said. “First of all there are too many offices and agents for the pool of business. It’s been a very easy entry level point for a number of years now because it’s perceived to be a lucrative industry.

“Staff are inadequately trained, systems aren’t in place to make sure all the checks and balances are done and it could also mean that the licensee in charge fails to attend the office for the minimum amount of hours.”

While Mr Almeida acknowledged entry-level training was being beefed up through proposed legislation this year, he called for increased funding for NSW Fair Trading to ensure businesses were regularly checked on.

“If you cut 50 per cent of funding for highway patrol people will run wild,” he said. “Well, that’s what happened to us in the real estate sector. They [government] took away the foot soldiers and there’s only so many hours in the day for inspectors to carry out compliance.”

But the president of the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales, Leanne Pilkington, said imminent legislative changes would ensure industry standards were tightened.

“Part of the problem is that it has been too easy to become a real estate agent in Sydney,” Mrs Pilkington said. “We’re hoping come July 1 it will become harder to become a licensee and or an agent. If you’ve got better trained people coming into the industry you’ll have better compliance.”

Mrs Pilkington believed the poor result from this compliance crackdown was indicative of the real estate industry more broadly.

“It would be unlikely that’s it’s only happening in western Sydney, to be frank. If you’re getting results like that it would be fair to assume it’s happening in other places,” she said.