New rules aimed at weeding out rogue real estate agents will take a few years to bring down the number of complaints, said the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE).
Seah Seng Choon, director of CASE, made this announcement as it appears that real estate agents are among the 10 most-complained about professions in Singapore.
In October, a code of conduct for the real estate industry was announced, to be implemented by a new statutory body called the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA).
“It’ll take a few years for agents and consumers to be more familiar with the rules. That’s when I expect the complaints to go down,” said Mr. Seah, who was speaking at the PropNex Realty convention held at Suntec City.
In 2009, CASE received 1,079 complaints against real estate agents for making misleading claims and unsatisfactory service. This makes the industry the sixth most-complained about sector in the country, while the three most-complained about sectors were timeshare with 2,523 cases, beauty with 2,060 cases and education with 1,843 cases.
Starting January 1, only agents registered with CEA will be allowed to practise their profession. CEA is authorised to fine, suspend or revoke the licenses of agents who flout the rules.