BOVAEA teams up with authorities to curb illegal real estate agents

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 17): The Board of Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents Malaysia (BOVAEA) has teamed up with the authorities to stop unlicensed people from acting as brokers in real estate transactions, after the industry lost RM40 billion worth of transactions to unlicensed property brokers last year alone.

BOVAEA’s estate agency practice committee (EAPC) awareness campaign chair K Soma Sundram said that in 2014, Bovaea recorded around RM162 billion worth of real estate transactions nationwide.

“Of that figure, RM40 billion were deals closed by unlicensed brokers, RM60 billion by licensed real estate brokers and the rest by property owners, home owners or developers. For each transaction, the illegal brokers would make around 2-3% of the entire deal,” Soma told theedgemarkets.com today.

This translates into about RM800 million to RM 1.2 billion per transaction, he added, which rightfully belongs to the 16,000 registered brokers or negotiators listed under BOVAEA.

The board estimated there are about 40,000 to 50,000 unlicensed brokers operating in the country.

Earlier at a press conference, BOVAEA EAPC chairman Eric Lim said it will work together with the Commercial Crime Investigation Department, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), as well as local councils such as Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), to stop unlicensed property brokers in the country.

This will be done through BOVAEA’s campaign called Anti C.A.M.P., which stands for cheating, absconding, misinterpretation and profiteering. The campaign was launched today.

Anti C.A.M.P has two main components, a collaboration with government agencies to catch the culprits behind the illegal signboards as well as an awareness campaign to educate the public about the methods used by illegal agents.

“On a monthly basis, we receive around 30-40 official complaints. However, we are aware that for every complaint lodge[d], there are hundreds (others) that are not lodged, because the victims felt that the amount they lost wasn’t worth the hassle of lodging a complaint,” said Lim.

He added that the public are most vulnerable to acts of cheating, absconding, misrepresentation and profiteering from the unlicensed dealers.

Under Section 30 of the Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents Act 1981, anyone found guilty of these acts can be fined up to RM300,000, imprisoned for three years or both.

Anyone found guilty of aiding and abetting these criminal acts, are also liable to the same punishment.

In this case, Lim said, aiding and abetting include publishing unlicensed brokers’ advertisement on any medium including: property portals; print mediums including newspapers and magazines; websites; and even property developers who engaged unlicensed property marketing companies.

“A developer can use their own sales team to sell their properties. But they cannot simply employ outsiders as their sales agents and market their properties for them.

Lim noted that some illegal brokers register themselves as real estate marketing companies.

“They approach the developers to (help) sell (their properties). These companies market the property on behalf of developers and behave as licensed brokers or agents. Whether the developer is aware or not, we don’t know. But it’s illegal,” said Lim.

How do we differentiate a licensed broker from a non-licensed one?

“A licensed broker will carry a REN tag. The tag will have a REN registration number, their name and picture, as well a QR code where you can scan it with your phone and it will give the full details of the broker to you immediately. Even if someone imitates our design, we have our security features," said Lim.

“An advertisement by a licensed broker must have the following: company name, company registration number, fixed land line number, and the REN registration number. If the broker or the ad lack these things… they are illegal,” he added.

Lim also noted that unlicensed brokers will put up their advertisements on street lamps, trees by the side of the road, online and also notice boards, as opposed to the license brokers who generally place their ads on the property itself.

He also advised members of the public to cross reference any brokers they are dealing with on BOVAEA's websites.

“We cannot take action against them (unlicensed brokers). Instead, the public should report them straight to the police.

"But, if there is a complaint against one of our own (members), we (BOVAEA) can take immediate action, including suspending the licence or even revoking it," said Lim.

On MCMC's part, Lim said it has started barring the telephone numbers of unlicensed brokers and preventing them from registering a new phone number, while DBKL and other local councils have begun taking down their roadside advertisements.