Will Licencing All Singapore Real Estate Agents Ease Your Mind?

I was reading the article on Sunday Times today with regards to ‘Licence All Agents, Says Experts‘. It really sets me pondering on whether an accredition of all local property realtors in Singapore is going to help the situation of having unethical fellow mates weeded out;

After all, this would be an industry which has no boundaries in terms of its potential income yield, depending on how hardworking and street smart the realtor is.

Government Stepping In To Regulate Real Estate Industry a Boon or a Foe?

With the government stepping in to regulate this industry, that means there won’t be a freeplay or freedom which Realtors are enjoying now. I can’t think of any current job industries apart from the medical/ lawyer industries which require would-be doctors and lawyers to acquire a certain amount of academics before being able to practice their profession. If regulated, I would foresee older Realtors without proper education qualifications to be strike off from practicing their trades which would be really uncompassionate.

At the present moment, Singapore Realtors are not required to have any kind of academics; Basic 3 O’levels passes would suffice in almost all the Realty agencies. As long as you have a good basic command of English and understand the contract terms, you could be an agent.

The pro side of having a regulated industry would be systematic approaches in future real estate deals; again it doesn’t and probably won’t weed out totally of unethical agents.

I understand that both SAEA and IEA have their own set of rules for their accredited agents with a few strike rules and they’re out.

The Clash of IEA and SAEA

There has been always the clash of two titans of Singapore’s Real Estate groups on wanting to be the leader of regulating the industry, namely SAEA and the IEA, with both coming out their own accredition standards like CES (Common Examination for Salesperson) for SAEA and CEHA (Common Examination for Housing Agents) for IEA.

If the government would to step in and regulate the industry, who would it appoint to be the sole organisation to come out with the accredition? I for sure wouldn’t be bothered unless the Government or my agency supports me to get one of the accredition to show to my clients that I am accredited.

Bottom Line

I have passed my CEHA. So what does it do for me? As a Realtor, the reason why I did the tests was for more knowledge and to cover and learn as much as I can, and not for additional tagline advertising.

Whatever that would and must be delivered as a Realtor must be delivered from the heart. Being responsible for your actions, fair and just practices are all necessary in any industries, not just Real Estate. I would think the current law system in Singapore would suffice to protect unjust actions from buyers/ sellers or bad agents and we wouldn’t need the Government to step in to gung-ho the Singapore realtor’s realm.

I don’t think regulating the whole industry would be in any much help weed out all unfair or unscrupulous practices of the industry, but if the day comes, we’ll just have to get ready.

7 thoughts on “Will Licencing All Singapore Real Estate Agents Ease Your Mind?

  1. By regulating the industry, it will defintely benefit the general public. People nowadays are more aware of real estate agents on how they practise and even broadcast in the papers almost weekly. To enhance the integrity of this industry, regulation of estate agents is a way to go.

  2. I totally support that real estate agents must be regulated. Recently, i had a very bad experience with an agent who does not display integrity and render no service and yet asked for commission by misled buyers to sign the commission agreement.

    Is there any way to check if the agent licensed?

  3. Hi Nancy, it is unfortunate that you’ve such experience with a rogue agent.

    First, maybe you could check with the agency that he’s registered with whether is he an associate. Then you could file a complain to either SAEA or IEA depending on which organization is the Agency that he belongs to is supporting.

    Hope it helps.

  4. thanks for your comment.
    It is useless because this agent is not register with SAEA or IEA.
    She filed a claim against me and I realized that she framed me by sms and was used as evident and I’ve to pay her commission.

    I understand that I could just report to the police in the first place when i realise that she misled me. Lesson learnt.

    1. Sorry to hear about your plight. Though she might have just tarnished the reputation of Realtor as a profession, I’d like to assure you that there are good ethical people in the industry.

      MND’s stepping in might just be the next best thing for consumers or clients with a regulatory body to turn to.

  5. From this website, at least I learn and help me what to do with this agent, who is irresponsibility since now I faced the problem. She did not handle her services in a proffessional procudure that affected financial, time waste and tell lies, all documents not in a proper procedure, no discussion/explaination on agreement contract for both landlord & tenant just ask to sign it. It really mess and fuss.

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