Tag Archives: CEA

Salespersons fined for advertising without consent

Posted on 15 Sep 2014 | Comments Off on Salespersons fined for advertising without consent

The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA)’s e-newsletter recently revealed two property salespersons were fined for not adhering to the advertising guidelines.

Shane Yeo was charged by CEA’s Disciplinary Committee with 38 charges of advertising without owner’s consent. On 18 March 2014, he was found guilty on four charges and was fined $12,000. The other 34 charges were taken into consideration in the sentence.

In a separate case, Maggie Khoo was convicted on 8 May 2014 for advertising two properties without the homeowner’s consent. She was sentenced by CEA’s Disciplinary Committee to a fine of $5,700 for the two charges proceeded against her. Two other charges for similar breaches were taken into consideration for sentencing.

According to CEA’s advertising guidelines, homeowner’s consent in writing is required before advertising the property, and details of the property must be accurate and claims in the advertisements should not be misleading.

Advertising Guidelines
Advertising is a key activity which should facilitate the smooth conduct of property transactions. Advertising guidelines for the industry are provided in the Code of Ethics and Professional Client Care, the Practice Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and the Professional Service Manual. The guidelines indicate that:

  1. Owner’s consent in writing is required before advertising the property.
  2. Property details must be accurate.
  3. “Dummy” or copied advertisements, where the salespersons did not have any property, are not allowed.
  4. Claims made in advertisements should not be inaccurate, false or misleading.
  5. There shall be no use of terms such as no co-broking, buyer only or other equivalent terms.
  6. Advertisement must be withdrawn once the property is no longer available.

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$2,500 fine for handling transaction monies

Posted on 8 Sep 2014 | Comments Off on $2,500 fine for handling transaction monies

A former Key Executive Officer (KEO) of an estate agent, Nicholas Kok Chiew Leong, was convicted and sentenced in April 2014 for handling transaction monies, according to the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA).

Kok was fined $2,500 for handling an option exercise fee of $4,000 for his clients, and another charge of a similar breach was also taken into consideration for sentencing.

A couple engaged Kok to purchase a unit in Clementi, and made an offer for it after the second viewing.

Two days after making the offer, Kok’s clients handed him $1,000 in cash, the proposed option fee and they signed the resale checklist and Option to Purchase.

Two weeks later, they handed Kok the option exercise fee of $4,000, which he subsequently passed to the sellers.

Salespersons are not allowed to handle transaction monies, so as to protect the clients’ interest and to minimise the risk involved in loss of sales proceeds. CEA also states it “is not under their scope of responsibilities”.

In a property lease transaction, transaction monies include rental deposits, monthly rentals and stamp duties. Meanwhile, transaction monies in a property sale and purchase transaction include option fee, down payment, stamp duties, deposits and sales proceeds.

The ban on handling transaction monies applies to buying and selling of properties situated in Singapore and leasing of HDB properties.

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