Public Awareness

Public Awareness

Practice of the real estate agents and negotiators is regulated by the Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers Act 1981 and anyone who is not a registered agent but poses as one and engages in the selling or leasing of property on behalf of property owners for a fee or commission is breaking the law.

 Those found guilty of this could be fined RM300,000, jailed for three years, or both.

 BOVAEP (Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers) began registering legal real estate agencies, real estate agents or negotiators few years ago.

 A licensed real estate agenct (REA) will carry a four-digit REA number, while a real estate negotiator (REN) who has attended BOVAEP’s two-day course will have a five-digit REN number.

 BOVAEP launched its Real Estate Negotiator (REN) tag with identification numbers for its members as proof of their identity. There is a Quick Response (QR) code on each tag so customers can scan the code with their smart phones to check the agent’s background.

 The public also can check whether a real estate agent / negotiator is registered through the BOVAEP website. If the agent’s/negotiator's information cannot be found on the website, it means he or she is operating illegally.

Public is urged to search the BOVAEP website to verify a real estate agent’s / negotiator's status before entering into any transactions to protect themselves. This is to prevent the public to use services of illegal real estate agents and negotiators to minimise risks while buying property.

We always heard complaints from homebuyers dealing with unregistered brokers. Unfortunately, board cannot do much because they (illegal brokers) are not registered with board. What we can suggest is to make a police report.

FILE A COMPLAINT

However, if you are dealing with a registered agent or negotiator, should you have any complaint, you can always go to the registered agency or to the board to seek help.

 When an earnest deposit is paid to estate agency firm, we are bound by law to hold the money in trust. If anything goes wrong, or the deal does not go through, we are obliged to return the money. If we don’t, we can lose our licence.

 Four areas of illegal practices, including cheating, absconding with deposits, profiteering and misrepresentation.

CHEATING is when one acts dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage for themselves.

 ABSCONDING is an act of running away with deposits, not refunding deposits etc.

 PROFITEERING is charging more than the fees chargeable for estate agency work.

 MISREPRESENTATION - An untrue statement of fact or law made by Party A to Party B which induces Party B to enter a contract thereby causing loss to Party B.