Dear Customer...."Consumer"

On the occasion of the recent decision of the Competition and Market Guarantor which sanctioned the three main associations of real estate agents for having set up a sort of "cartel" regarding commissions, we have unfortunately witnessed, and are still witnessing, a real "disinformation campaign" by national and local television and journalistic media which has certainly caused serious damage to operators in the sector, but above all to consumers who have been led to believe things that are absolutely untrue; main creators of all this: the consumer associations, one in particular "Altroconsumo" which is not new to attacks on our category, welcome when they are constructive, to be rejected when, as in this case, they are the result of ignorance on the topic or worse, of falsehood, given that the arguments disseminated have nothing to do with the contents of the Guarantor's resolution; Let's see some points (from "Corriere della Sera 15/04" also taken up by local "Free Press"):
“Finally the antitrust has thought about bringing some clarity to the real estate world…..The “zero commission” is finally being relaunched, i.e. the possibility for the agent to accept the assignment without asking for anything in return….According to our research (Altroconsumo) Italy is the only country where the commission is asked from both parties” - Paolo Martinello, President of Altroconsumo -.
First of all, it should be underlined that there is no connection, absolutely none, between the antitrust ruling and the "conclusions" drawn by the aforementioned consumer association and this in itself is very serious; it is then clear that when you make these statements without going into the content you are engaging in petty "demagogy" (from the Greek literally: "art of using the masses to gain power"), but we, who are used to being precise for work, would like to clarify the contents:
- the "zero" "Commission" (which, to begin with to be precise, the Civil Code defines as "commission") on the part of the seller is such an illogical proposal that the consumers themselves have understood (much better than the associations that represent them) that a job, if carried out professionally, must be paid and not only that; they have long understood and accepted that those who perhaps ask for low or no commissions are perhaps because they will invest less, or nothing, in their customer (sorry, "consumer"), less in advertising, in services, in human resources: is it really worth it or are we witnessing a "backwards" leap, which incentivises the old "pat on the back" broker instead of the modern corporately managed real estate agency?.
- Is the commission paid abroad by only one of the parties? It's true, but are we sure that what happens abroad is always better than Italian law and regulations? In France, for example, the commission compensation is paid only by the seller (6%!! And not by the buyer as the "Altroconsumo" association erroneously says) working practically non-exclusively and creating a sort of reverse auction for the property given that the real estate agent no longer has an interest in protecting the seller and tries to submit any type of proposal to him in order to "conclude" and arrive before his colleagues, much less will he guarantee the buyer with checks on the property or anything else since he does not is paid (in France actually the Notaries take over in this case) and in Italy, we know well, the "weak contracting party", or most "exposed" at least from a legal point of view is the buyer, it is he who needs to be protected the most, and then: are we sure that this "idea" really protects the "consumers"?: Or is the "Italian system" which provides for a commission on both parties (3%!!), of a smaller amount than all the European countries, perhaps better, but what is a guarantee of impartiality, a duty to guarantee and assist both contracting parties? Aspects that have not been decided, mind you, by real estate agents, but by the Civil Code, laws and a mountain of jurisprudence, on which the consumer association is invited to inform itself (first), and to an open discussion (..Then!). It is also curious or at least strange that the majority of consumer associations are alongside the associations of real estate agents, in jointly evaluating the forms, the operational methodology, in the various chamber of commerce commissions, and others instead use propaganda systems to earn the "applause" of whom? Certainly not the thousands of real estate agents who, despite also being "consumers", will distance themselves from this way of operating worthy of the most fundamentalist trade unionism and closed to discussion on content. Is that all? Unfortunately not; the "guiding spirit of consumers" goes much further: "always negotiate the commission, and this must be clarified, it is paid upon deed and then it is not essential to contact a real estate agent to sell a house...".
How can you disagree with the last point? After all, not even if I have to remove a tooth do I necessarily have to go to the dentist, just like if my car breaks down, no one will stop me from not calling for assistance and pushing it for kilometers! Dear "Consumers", the imperative is to "make do", let's give up the specialized services that society "imposes" on us, long live "do it yourself"!
As regards the right to commission, however, a much more serious topic, in addition to the provision that it matures "at the conclusion of the deal" (which occurs well before the deed according to the civil code), jurisprudence of the last ten years (e.g. Civil Cassation section III 13/03/95 n.2905) explains that "the conclusion of the deal must be understood as the completion of an operation of an economic nature generating a mandatory relationship between the parties" which, for non-experts to the works is called "preliminary sales contract" or simply "concluded contract" (we recommend reading articles 1326/1335 of the civil code).
It should not be forgotten that all of this is not part of the initiatives of the consumer associations, but of the Guardia di Finanza which, having noted that the majority of real estate agencies applied similar commissions despite the lack of explicit tariffs, identified the real estate agents' trade associations (and not the individual agencies), including Fimaa Confcommercio to which the writer belongs, as the "masterminds" of this fact; far from the undersigned discussing the decisions of the Guarantor, against which all three Associations will appeal to the TAR, the problem that arises is of correct "information" to customers, and of the "protagonists" of the affair who are 1. the associations of real estate agents, 2. the agencies and real estate agents 3. the Guarantor (antitrust).
The fact that a fourth protagonist (consumer association) comes in not only having done nothing, but propagandistically "riding" this situation by giving an interpretation that is absolutely without any foundation, misinforming consumers rather than protecting them, demonstrating that it does not know the topics it deals with (as demonstrated above) is, frankly, irritating and scandalous: it is easy, too easy to denigrate the work and profession of others if you do not accept a discussion on the contents, but if you do not know the contents...
With this, we do not want to open a purely and simply polemical "debate" with consumer associations, we ourselves are "Consumers" and the latter are our customers and therefore we are the first interested in ensuring that they find the exercise of our profession satisfactory: what is not acceptable is that someone uses to misinform them with the sole purpose of gaining easy consensus which turns into greater power, or from the Greek: "demagogy".
This is why we address "our customers" directly, those who already know us, those who know our professionalism, those who know very well what to do and who to choose without the "Consumers Association" telling them what to do: we just want to tell customers not to believe those who tell you that a service, a performance or a product is poor or costs too much, it is better to check, investigate and think with your own head and sometimes, why not, trust; our fathers founded an entire society on trust, on the agreement of the handshake, on the value of the person and the professional before the category to which he belongs, now we have Associations that sow distrust without even explaining why. Arch. Paolo Padovani – President of Fimaa-Confcommercio member Real Estate Agents

source: Grimaldi Editorial