The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) is watching over the rise of so-called “rental coordinators”, who perform similar functions to legitimate property agents, according to Straits Times.
Property firms typically attract individuals who want to work as rental coordinators by offering attractive commission earnings of up to S$10,000 a month.
The CEA has observed that in recent months, there have been hundreds of recruitment advertisements online looking for interested rental coordinators.
Based on their job scope, rental coordinators may infringe the Estate Agents Act; hence, the CEA would contact certain property firms for further investigation.
Since 1 January, the CEA has strictly required property agents to register before conducting real estate work. Agents must pass industry examinations or must have brokered at least three deals within the past two years to become an eligible property agent.
Agents caught infringing the rules may face a three-year jail term or a fine of up to S$75,000.
“It’s not wrong to hire a helper but the role must be very clear. Agents should not find ways and means to be creative. If they do real estate work, they need to pass the exams,” said Mohamed Ismail, Chief Executive of PropNex.
Chris Koh, Director at Dennis Wee, said “when the coordinator makes the call about a property, it’s very easy to start talking about its price or facilities, but that’s an agent’s job.”
Source : PropertyGuru – 26 Sep 2012