There is never a day that passes without seeing auction notices splashed within our pages. Many are posted on behalf of banks due to non-performing loans.

Nowadays, bailiffs have cleaned their act and no longer announce the names of the owners of the property, something that usually backfired on their faces when the intended auctions were overturned, but the damage had been done.

But a disturbing trend has been showing its ugly face of late and it has forced the government to intervene. Some unscrupulous court brokers have been conniving with crooked business people and mid-level bank officials, lawyers and evaluators  to undervalue and sell property below their true value in exchange of money.

This has been a growing trend and it has caused huge losses to many people when they see their property gobbled at a fraction of their true value. While some cases were recently reversed and auctions cancelled, this is a trend that has been going on for many years unabated.

Some people in the past suffered the same fate but had nowhere to turn to. The government should think about instituting an arbitration body to go back in time to undo past injustices. Nearly everyone who has had the misfortune of having their property auctioned complain of being undercut, some could have valid reasons to complain.

But whatever the case, the government should come down hard on those involved in the scam, revoking brokerage or bailiffs’ licenses is not enough.  Maybe it is time to introduce hefty fines and jail time for maybe the culprits, then it might help dissuade others who were thinking along the same lines.