A number of property fliers have been thrown out, as new measures to stop misleading advertising in the industry are officially in place.
However, some agents still managed to run ads against the rules, especially online.
For instance, over 50 ads on two property websites are claiming access to “experts” and “specialists.” Both of these claims violate the new rules, which were announced in June by the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA).
Most agents, on the other hand, are taking the latest guidelines seriously. James Lee, 43, who operates a real estate company, has binned 50,000 fliers which use the term “specialist”.
“We printed those last year and did not have the chance to distribute all of them, so it’s safer to throw them away than risk it,” he said.
Aside from the removal of misleading claims, the new policies dictate that all data in advertisements must be from a credible source. In addition, all fliers must bear the name of the agent or firm, registration number and contact details. It applies to online, print and mobile phone ads. Property agents who violate the new guidelines can be fined up to S$75,000 and will have their licences revoked or suspended.
The CEA said that it will perform random checks on agents and act on tip-offs from the public.
Meanwhile, property portal PropertyGuru, which has up to 10,000 listings per day, has warned more than 200 agents not to violate the new rules.
“As a platform, we do not have much authority on the matter, so all we can do is notify (them) but the decision lies with them,” said Winnie Khoo, Chief Marketing Officer of PropertyGuru.
Home seeker Maggie Ng, 29, said she is glad that the new rules have finally taken effect.
“Sometimes, fliers have such wild claims and misleading information. It makes you wonder why people bother to print them in the first place.”
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