Woman charged over marketing foreign properties without licence

[princess_morbucks]

http://news.asiaone.com/news/busines...ithout-licence

The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) has charged Tan Yang Po, 50, in court with allegedly acting as an estate agent without being licensed with CEA.


Get the full story from The Straits Times.

Tan faces five charges for acting as an estate agent without being licensed as an estate agent, according to a statement.

Here is the statement from the CEA:

The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) charged Tan Yang Po (50 years old, Singaporean female) trading as AZEA Personal Coaching ("APC") in Court today for allegedly acting as an estate agent without being licensed with CEA. This is the first prosecution case related to unlicensed estate agency work for the sale of foreign properties.

Under the Estate Agents Act, an estate agent must be licensed with CEA before it can market local or foreign properties in Singapore. Tan, trading as APC, faces five charges for acting as an estate agent without being licensed as an estate agent. CEA's charges are listed in the Annex.

About the Case

CEA's allegations against Tan are as follows. APC had first advertised to invite members of the public to attend its free property investment seminar. Those who attended the seminar were encouraged to enrol in a two-day investment course, with a fee, to learn about investment strategies. The course participants were awarded membership to a property club of AZEA.

APC introduced its client, Sterling Camden LLC, a foreign property developer to members of the property club. Tan allegedly informed members that the developer was selling apartments in Houston, Texas, USA costing about US$49,000 to US$60,000 each, with a guaranteed investment return of 8% plus net rental yield for two years. Thereafter, Tan allegedly facilitated the sale transactions for the said foreign properties and for each successful sale, collected commission for the sales from the foreign property developer. At all material times, APC acted as an estate agent while it was not licensed as an estate agent with CEA.

Advice for Consumers

Consumers should only engage licensed estate agents and registered salespersons. They are advised to check the CEA Public Register of Estate Agents and Salespersons at CEA website www.cea.gov.sg or use the "CEA@SG" mobile app to verify whether the estate agent is licensed with CEA or the salesperson is registered with CEA. Consumers should report to CEA when they encounter any person not listed on the Public Register but carrying out estate agency work illegally. They can report the person to the CEA at 1800-6432555 or [email protected].

Consumers should exercise due diligence when buying foreign properties. They should find out pertinent details such as their eligibility to buy the particular property and all the costs involved, e.g. taxes, maintenance cost, foreign currency fluctuation, if any. Consumers should be wary of claims of high returns and low initial down payments. They should conduct their own research, look at the viability, pricing and terms and conditions of the purchase, and not rely solely on the advice of representatives of the developer of the foreign property.

For tips on buying foreign properties, consumers can refer to the online guide http://www.cea.gov.sg/cea/content/bi...Properties.pdf. For more consumer education materials, visit CEA's Consumer Resource Centre at www.cea.gov.sg/consumerresources.

[hyenergix]

Can anyone please enlighten me:

If CEA licence is not recognised by the foreign country, and it does not provide certified training for selling foreign properties recognised by that foreign country, who gives CEA the authority to require agents to be licensed to sell that foreign country's properties?

[Arcachon]

Get a Sampan, roll the buyer to international water and sell.

When you are in Roma do what the Romain do.

[august]

Can anyone please enlighten me:

If CEA licence is not recognised by the foreign country, and it does not provide certified training for selling foreign properties recognised by that foreign country, who gives CEA the authority to require agents to be licensed to sell that foreign country's properties?

I am guessing CEA has the authority as long as the marketing or sales activity is conducted in spore?

[hyenergix]

Without knowing e foreign country's laws, e CEA licensed agent will be as clueless as e man in e street could endanger e buyer by giving him a false sense of security.

I encountered many clueless CEA licensed agents selling properties in Malaysia who gave wrong info to me n to e public.

[august]

Without knowing e foreign country's laws, e CEA licensed agent will be as clueless as e man in e street could endanger e buyer by giving him a false sense of security.

I encountered many clueless CEA licensed agents selling properties in Malaysia who gave wrong info to me n to e public.

outside Spore i suppose CEA has no jurisdiction.

[hyenergix]

outside Spore i suppose CEA has no jurisdiction.

Precisely my point: CEA has no jurisdiction. At worse, the buyer trusts the CEA licenced agent selling foreign properties when the agent himself has very few clues about foreign laws. This legal case is very odd as it seems to imply buyers can trust the recommendations of CEA licenced agents selling foreign properties.

[teddybear]

Looks like the propaganda machinery is all out to discourage and scare people away from buying overseas properties????????????

Can anyone please enlighten me:

If CEA licence is not recognised by the foreign country, and it does not provide certified training for selling foreign properties recognised by that foreign country, who gives CEA the authority to require agents to be licensed to sell that foreign country's properties?

[Kokono]

Can anyone please enlighten me:

If CEA licence is not recognised by the foreign country, and it does not provide certified training for selling foreign properties recognised by that foreign country, who gives CEA the authority to require agents to be licensed to sell that foreign country's properties?

Anybody can sell foreign properties to Singaporean so long the sale took place outside Singapore.

In Singapore, a CEA license is require to sell local or foreign properties.

[Simi]

Anybody can sell foreign properties to Singaporean so long the sale took place outside Singapore.

In Singapore, a CEA license is require to sell local or foreign properties.

Does this imply that Owner must engage an agent to sell ?

[vip]

http://news.asiaone.com/news/busines...ithout-licence

Woman charged over marketing foreign properties without licence

Rachael Boon
The Straits Times

Wednesday, May 21, 2014


The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) has charged Tan Yang Po, 50, in court with allegedly acting as an estate agent without being licensed with CEA.


Get the full story from The Straits Times.

Tan faces five charges for acting as an estate agent without being licensed as an estate agent, according to a statement.

Here is the statement from the CEA:

The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) charged Tan Yang Po (50 years old, Singaporean female) trading as AZEA Personal Coaching ("APC") in Court today for allegedly acting as an estate agent without being licensed with CEA. This is the first prosecution case related to unlicensed estate agency work for the sale of foreign properties.

Under the Estate Agents Act, an estate agent must be licensed with CEA before it can market local or foreign properties in Singapore. Tan, trading as APC, faces five charges for acting as an estate agent without being licensed as an estate agent. CEA's charges are listed in the Annex.

About the Case

CEA's allegations against Tan are as follows. APC had first advertised to invite members of the public to attend its free property investment seminar. Those who attended the seminar were encouraged to enrol in a two-day investment course, with a fee, to learn about investment strategies. The course participants were awarded membership to a property club of AZEA.

APC introduced its client, Sterling Camden LLC, a foreign property developer to members of the property club. Tan allegedly informed members that the developer was selling apartments in Houston, Texas, USA costing about US$49,000 to US$60,000 each, with a guaranteed investment return of 8% plus net rental yield for two years. Thereafter, Tan allegedly facilitated the sale transactions for the said foreign properties and for each successful sale, collected commission for the sales from the foreign property developer. At all material times, APC acted as an estate agent while it was not licensed as an estate agent with CEA.

Advice for Consumers

Consumers should only engage licensed estate agents and registered salespersons. They are advised to check the CEA Public Register of Estate Agents and Salespersons at CEA website www.cea.gov.sg or use the "CEA@SG" mobile app to verify whether the estate agent is licensed with CEA or the salesperson is registered with CEA. Consumers should report to CEA when they encounter any person not listed on the Public Register but carrying out estate agency work illegally. They can report the person to the CEA at 1800-6432555 or [email protected].

Consumers should exercise due diligence when buying foreign properties. They should find out pertinent details such as their eligibility to buy the particular property and all the costs involved, e.g. taxes, maintenance cost, foreign currency fluctuation, if any. Consumers should be wary of claims of high returns and low initial down payments. They should conduct their own research, look at the viability, pricing and terms and conditions of the purchase, and not rely solely on the advice of representatives of the developer of the foreign property.

For tips on buying foreign properties, consumers can refer to the online guide http://www.cea.gov.sg/cea/content/bi...Properties.pdf. For more consumer education materials, visit CEA's Consumer Resource Centre at www.cea.gov.sg/consumerresources.

[vip]

Please don't ask me what local or overseas projects are good deals. Similarly, I won't recommend any local or foreign properties in my blog or through Property Club Singapore, for three main reasons:

1. I don't help local or overseas developers to market properties nor receive any commission from them.

2. I can't recommend you any project that I myself won't buy (or don't believe that it's worth buying).

3. Different people have different appetite and holding power. There is no one-size-fits-all in property investment.

[august]

Precisely my point: CEA has no jurisdiction. At worse, the buyer trusts the CEA licenced agent selling foreign properties when the agent himself has very few clues about foreign laws. This legal case is very odd as it seems to imply buyers can trust the recommendations of CEA licenced agents selling foreign properties.

so is she doing the marketing and selling in spore?
iirc she is one of those conducting pty seminar and courses in spore and throw in "investment opportunities" for overseas projects. i suppose if the selling and marketing activities are carried out in spore she will need a CEA license.

[minority]

Looks like the propaganda machinery is all out to discourage and scare people away from buying overseas properties????????????

TALK ROTS lah. Waring say propaganda. Don't want say never stop people. MSA bo jo kang. u are one big talk cock king.