If you are into buying property in Singapore, whether because you are a young couple or you are looking to “flip” the property, you may be aware of the many restrictions that our public housing has.
That’s because the Housing & Development Board (HDB) flats are more affordable housing options compared to the private housing available in Singapore.
One of the more well-known restrictions is the minimum occupation period (MOP) of HDB Build-To-Order (BTO) flats.
For many flats in Singapore, the MOP is five years (though we know ten years is on the cards for some upcoming new flats).
Because five years is quite long, and people can’t wait that long to “make a profit” on their HDB flats, some sellers try to circumvent this MOP requirement.
Of course, what comes next is property agents helping to facilitate such sneaky deals.
Two property agents were caught and fined for their involvement in marketing HDB BTO flats.
Here is more about what happened to the agents.
Two Property Agents Were Fined for Trying to Sell HDB Flats Which Did Not Fulfill MOP Requirement
Sometimes, money makes us do things against our better judgment.
For example, a company pretended to have a Chinese businessman “work” for them at a monthly salary of $10,000 when all the man did was pay the company $360,000 for their services.
Now, it’s revealed that two property agents tried to sell HDB BTO flats in contravention of their MOP requirements.
The two property agents involved are Ms Au and Ms Loo.
Ms Au had marketed a HDB flat located at Yishun Street 51, while Ms Loo had censured for marketing a HDB flat located at 110A Depot Road, reports The Straits Times.
For their schemes, both were charged and found to have breached the Code of Ethics and Professional Client Care, according to the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) and reported by The Straits Times.
The Code of Ethics and Professional Client Care covers a broad range of topics, including “due diligence and compliance with law and statutory requirements”.
Ms Au was fined $1,000, and Ms Loo was fined $500 for not complying with the said Code.
To be honest, that’s not much, given the potentially sizeable commissions both agents could have made if they managed to sell the HDB flats.
For those who are unaware, the agents had tried to sell the HDB flats when they knew that HDB requirements on minimum occupation had not been met.
For Ms Au, it was facilitating the resale of the Yishun HDB flat despite being aware that the sellers did not stay in the flat during the first five years of receiving their keys.
She had listed the flat for $690,000, and it was allegedly vacant for eight years since the owners lived in a separate landed property.
Ms Loo, in contrast, led buyers to view the Depot Road flat even though the owners had not physically occupied the flat they were trying to sell.
Her listing even described the flat as “never stayed in before, brand new” and the asking price was a whopping $650,000.
According to the official HDB website, the MOP is the “time period you are required to physically occupy your flat before you can sell it on the open market”.
It’s not enough to just own the flat for a certain period of time. You actually need to live and be walking around the flat as part of your daily life.
We guess that makes sense since the purpose of the HDB flat is to have people living in it instead of purchasing to make a profit when reselling.
The relevant duration of the MOP for these two flats was five years, though from now on, the MOP for HDB flats may extend up to seven, ten or 20 years (depending on the mode of purchase of the flat).
So, think twice before you try to “cheat” the HDB rules.
Both Agents Were From the Same Property Agency
Given the egregious breaches of these two agents, we are sure you are curious about which property agency’s agents are so gutsy to “disobey” HDB.
Well, the funny thing is, both these agents are from the same property agency.
That is ERA Realty Network.
You probably have seen this property agency’s flyers stuffed into your letter box at some point of time in your life.
Shame shame on this agency for not enforcing stricter standards for the property agents under their wing.
According to ERA Realty Network’s website, they have over 40 years of experience in the real estate industry and have closed almost 50,000 property transactions in the last year.
The network of property agents under ERA Realty Network is more than 7,000.
Agency Responds to the Controversy
Since the controversy and news of the property agents’ fines broke out, ERA Realty Network has responded to the incident.
Speaking to local paper The Straits Times, Mr Eugene Lim, a key executive officer of ERA Singapore, said that it was “unfortunate” for the incidents to have occurred.
The agency is also said to be using this opportunity to “reinforce” their agents’ understanding of the requirements in Singapore.
Indeed, they should. After all, Singapore is not lenient to those who don’t follow the set rules.
And given the local authorities’ watchful eyes for those who try to circumvent safeguards implemented to benefit the masses, property agents will do well if they refresh the requirements they have to abide by.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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