The Property Stock and Business Agents Act was recently amended to crackdown on real estate agents underquoting.

As part of the changes, selling a property through the 'offers over' method is prohibited.

REINSW Orana division acting chair Bob Berry said in his experience, across the past four years about 60 per cent of residential sales at Dubbo had been marketed by 'offers over'.

"The community here should not be disadvantaged by having the right to a form of marketing property they've always had," Mr Berry said.

"They've had a problem in Sydney, which has been amplified by the Sydney media and the commentators and there's obviously been a number of complaints, but it's not a statewide problem."

Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Victor Dominello said the new laws would protect consumers during one of the most important and expensive purchases ever made.

"There had been no successful prosecutions related to underquoting made under the previous Act in 13 years, so these new laws are long overdue," he said.

However, Mr Berry said the government had gotten the changes wrong.

"They haven't gotten the ban on underquoting wrong, we support that, but they're making these changes where there isn't a problem," he said.

"This is not something that's going to affect agents. We're not speaking for ourselves, we're speaking for the community and their right to determine how they sell their property."

As the changes do not apply to rural land or commercial property, Mr Berry said it would be creating a divided city.

Mr Berry said he had been in touch with Troy Grant's office and planned to speak to the Acting Premier and Dubbo MP within the next few weeks.

"We don't believe he would want to see any of his constituents disadvantaged by a forced change."

In addition to the existing penalty of $22,000 for underquoting, agents found guilty of it could now be made to forfeit any commission made from the sale.

Amendments to the Property Stock and Business Agents Act 2000 include:

❏ Advertisements that say "offers over" or "offers above" or any similar statement are prohibited

❏ Agents will be required to provide evidence of their estimated selling price to the vendor and this estimate must be stated in the agency agreement

❏ When marketing a property an agent must only use the estimated selling price provided in the agency agreement

❏ Agents will be required to keep a register of prices quoted on a property whether these are provided to the vendor or prospective purchasers.