What's going to happen to my deals?

[MarrickG]

THIS housing agent got a surprise when clients called him to say they could not find the agency he works for on the list of approved ones.

When Mr Mohamed checked, he found that Parizz Realty was not approved by the Council of Estate Agencies (CEA) last month.

The CEA was set up by the Government to regulate the real estate industry in a bid to improve transparency and standards.

From Jan 1, it is an offence for real estate agents who are not registered with the CEA to sell any kind of property.

So Mr Mohamed, who is in his 40s, can't make any sales unless he joins another firm which is on the list.

"I thought, 'What's going to happen now? Will these deals still go through? Will I still be allowed to practise, will I lose my commission?'," he said.

"I'm sure there are other agents caught in this predicament.

"Will I be penalised because my agency didn't get its licence?"

And he's not the only one to be affected.

CEA told The New Paper that the applications for three real estate agencies have been rejected as their key executive officers did not meet some their eligibility requirements.

There were 1,190 approved applications as of Dec31 last year.

Mr Mohamed, who declined to give his full name, said he joined the company a year ago. He has been an agent for five years.

When contacted, the owner of Parizz Realty, 59, confirmed that its application had failed as he was convicted of four counts of cheating his clients in 2006.

But that was under a different agency which he owned and which no longer exists.

He was jailed for 22 months then.

The owner, who declined to be identified, said he was surprised when he received the rejection letter from CEA a week ago.

There are six agents registered under his agency, he added.

He said: "I am disappointed, but I will make an appeal to CEA."

More worries

Mr Mohamed also had another worry: What about his commissions from three outstanding HDB flat transactions amounting to $15,000?

"My clients have asked me if their deals would go through," he said.

"I've three deals pending, I hope they don't get rejected by HDB."

Fortunately for Mr Mohamed, he will get to keep his commission and go through with his deals.

This is because the deals were started last year, before the ruling implemented by CEA on Jan 1.

CEA said that agents of firms whose licence applications are rejected would be allowed to follow through their existing cases, but they must not enter into any new transaction from Jan 1 onwards.

It also said agents like Mr Mohamed can check with their firm, which may be appealing to CEA, or they can choose to submit a fresh sales person registration application under another licensed firm.

This article was first published in The New Paper.