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Agent suspension exposes deep accountability problem in real estate
Opinion: Josh Tesolin’s meteoric rise brought trophies and record-breaking commissions. Now, with his licence suspended over alleged malpractice, the scandal raises hard questions: How many people in his network knew of the allegations, and why did it take so long to respond? Opines SPI editor Liam Garman.
Josh Tesolin has never been shy about his success.
At Ray White’s NSW/ACT awards in September, he walked away with a cabinet’s worth of trophies: top city and top international principal, and top city auction agent. He even broke an individual commission record, declaring proudly that “everyone can lie but numbers don’t lie”.
Months later, those same numbers are at the heart of one of the biggest scandals in Australian real estate.
NSW Fair Trading has suspended Tesolin’s licence and that of his company, Tesolin Consulting, citing alleged underquoting of more than 100 properties, dummy bidding at auctions, falsifying documents, and breaches of agent conduct rules. These allegations are not currently substantiated, but the mere fact of the investigation suggests a picture of widespread alleged malpractice carried out under the banner of Australia’s largest real estate brand.
The question now confronting the industry is not about NSW Fair Trading’s allegations. It is whether Ray White looked the other way.
Because many people already knew.
In conversations with REB under the condition of anonymity, agents from both inside and outside Australia’s largest network described Tesolin’s methods as an open secret. Some operators told this masthead that there was a push for the head office to act.
Others were alarmed at the use by some agents of “incentive kickers” – extra commissions paid when sale prices vastly exceed quoted ranges. This masthead does not allege that there was malpractice from Ray White - Quakers Hill with the use of incentive kickers.
The details will be contested in hearings still to come. Tesolin is entitled to respond, and Ray White will no doubt argue that privacy and what may prove to be false documents made internal oversight difficult. But such explanations ring hollow.
Real estate groups are not passive bystanders in their franchisees’ affairs. They monitor sales volumes, commission flows, and auction clearance rates. They host the award nights where those numbers are plastered on the screen.
“Numbers do not lie” – that’s true, and these same numbers were celebrated.
Which raises the uncomfortable conclusion: either Ray White tolerated the conduct of its star performer because he was successful, or it failed to notice behaviour that many agents openly discussed. Neither reflects well on a brand built on trust.
Over the last several weeks, directors and executives from several large offices and networks have reached out to me aghast at the allegations.
Some long saw the writing on the wall and banned ethically ambiguous sales tactics outright, not because misconduct was rampant in their ranks, but because they recognised their corrosive potential.
Another was worried about their own office being impacted by the saga, hearing the stories from impacted families, and moved to distance themselves from Ray White - Quakers Hill.
They understood that public confidence in property – already fragile amid affordability concerns – cannot withstand repeated revelations of alleged malpractice.
This is bigger than one suspended agent.
Australians may be obsessed with real estate, but that obsession will not insulate the profession from the scrutiny of regulators. If misconduct is shown to be widespread, a royal commission into the sector is not unthinkable. For an industry built on its role as custodian of people’s largest financial asset, the reputational damage would be catastrophic.
That is why accountability matters. Not just in street auctions of Western Sydney, but in corporate boardrooms. If the industry cannot enforce higher standards on its own, it should not be surprised when government imposes them.
Because in the end, misconduct unchecked is misconduct endorsed. And when the whole house comes down, it is not just one agent or one office left in the rubble. It is everyone.
Liam Garman is the editor of Real Estate Business and Smart Property Investment. To connect, you can email him on [email protected] or reach out on socials: LinkedIn or Instagram.
