Governance · Conflict register
Conflict of interest register
Every declared conflict of interest involving Homeowner.org.nz, its founder, future directors, staff, or contracted providers. Published openly, with mitigations. The test: a reader should be able to see every material interest that could influence a decision, and judge for themselves whether the mitigation is adequate.
Why this register exists
This site's critique of the real estate industry includes the structural issue of undisclosed benefits, captured referral networks, and regulators who share industry interests. If Homeowner.org.nz has undisclosed or poorly mitigated conflicts, the critique is not credible.
Every person with a decision-making role at Homeowner.org.nz is required to declare material interests in real estate, property services, or related industries, and to declare any financial, family, or professional interests that could influence their decisions at the organisation. The register is public. The mitigations are published.
Declared conflicts
Ethan Zhao (founder)
- Nature of conflict
- Founder and director of AgentTeam (commercial vendor) — which provides the underlying infrastructure for the Advisor chat interface used on Homeowner.org.nz
- Declared
- 2026-04
- Mitigations
-
- AgentTeam is engaged at arm's-length commercial terms. The Enterprise-tier agreement (identity: @advisor:homeowner.org.nz) is publicly describable.
- Migration path to alternate infrastructure preserved as an option. No lock-in to AgentTeam's platform.
- Any payments from Homeowner to AgentTeam appear on the transparency ledger with the explicit counterparty name.
- Founder takes zero money from Homeowner. No route exists for AgentTeam revenue to compensate the founder on the Homeowner side.
- Future: once the Board of Directors is established, AgentTeam-related decisions will be made by the non-founder directors to avoid the founder voting on matters benefiting AgentTeam.
- Status
- Declared; mitigations in place; will be reviewed at first AGM post-incorporation.
When a conflict is added
A conflict is added to this register within 14 days of being identified. Removal (where the conflict no longer exists) is documented with the date of removal and the reason.
Members can propose that additional conflicts be declared if they have information suggesting a material interest has not been disclosed. Proposals go to the board (post-incorporation) or the founder (pre-incorporation) and are considered within 14 days.
Related pages
- Governance — decision processes.
- Founding principles — why transparency and conflict disclosure are constitutional.
- Transparency ledger — every financial transaction.