Eighteen property agents were taken to task between 2017 and 2022 for helping their clients to market Housing Board flats that breached the agency's mandatory five-year period occupation minimum (MOP) rule.
Of these, six agents had their registration suspended for between seven and 48 weeks and were fined between $2,000 and $5,000 by the Council for Estate Agencies' (CEA) disciplinary committee, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said in Parliament on Monday.
Another two agents received letters of censure - which are issued for minor disciplinary breaches with one of them fined $1,000. The remaining 10 agents were issued warning letters for their disciplinary breaches.
These property agents were found to have breached the code set by the CEA that requires them to ensure that no law, including those that apply to HDB properties, is infringed as part of their work.
CEA investigated 51 cases involving 69 property agents in the past five years, with 19 cases still under investigation, Mr Lee said in response to questions filed by nine MPs on the issue of Build-To-Order (BTO) flat owners flouting MOP rules.
This comes after some seemingly vacant and unrenovated BTO flats were reported to be up for sale on property portals in December. Agents who listed the units described them as a "blank canvas" and "never stayed in before, brand new".
Property agents who have reasonable cause to suspect that MOP rules have been infringed should inform their clients of the potential consequences and stop marketing the property, said Mr Lee.
This story is from the January 10, 2023 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the January 10, 2023 edition of The Straits Times.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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