Regulation and licenses issuance to individual housing agents
15 Jan 2009Date: 15 January 2009
Question No. 932 (by Mr Lim Biow Chuan, MP for Marine Parade GRC):
To ask the Minister for Finance whether the Ministry has plans to regulate and issue licences to individual housing agents.
Reply by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam:
The Government agrees with the Member that the current state of the industry is not satisfactory. Indeed there have been frequent complaints against unscrupulous housing agents. The relevant government agencies including MND/HDB and MOF/IRAS are reviewing possible ways of strengthening the regulatory framework and raising overall professional standards. Amongst other things, there is a need for greater control by the housing agencies over the conduct of their agents. The review will cover areas such as qualifications and training requirements, a dispute resolution mechanism and an enforcement framework against agencies with errant agents. The Government will announce details when the review is completed.