Property Hunter Magazine Property Hunter Magazine - Issue 56 | Page 43

Unregistered Property Negotiators Double the Licensed Registration fee is RM450 and those who are interested can call MIEA Sabah branch treasurer Mary Yu Yen Tshin at 019-8218798. The seminar will feature two speakers, namely MIEA president Siva Shanker and past president K. Soma Sundram from Peninsular Malaysia. Property Expert, Ahyat Ishak sharing his tips to registered estate agents how to ultilise great marketing tools with Property Hunter There are between 50 and 60 licensed real estate agents in Sabah employing up to 600 registered negotiators, said Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) Sabah branch chairman Victor T.K. Wong. However, the number of unregistered negotiators in the state is estimated to be close to double the figure of their registered counterparts. This was revealed by Wong in a press conference to announce the coming Negotiators Registration Seminar organized by MIEA Sabah. “We estimate there are between 800 and 1,000 unregistered negotiators in Sabah.” Hence, he urged unregistered negotiators to attend the seminar at Sabah Golf and Country Club here on May 26, from 8.30am to 6pm. The event is organized by MIEA on behalf of the Board of Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents (Bovaea) under the purview of the Ministry of Finance. This is the third Negotiators Registration Seminar organized by MIEA Sabah; the first was held last December and the second in January which were attended by 288 negotiators in total. “We expect between 50 and 60 participants to turn up for this coming event and we hope negotiators who have yet to register will come forward.” Wong pointed out that negotiators who registered themselves at the seminar would still have to work under a licensed real estate agent, meaning they were still not allowed to operate a real estate agency. To become a licensed real estate agent, one must have passed estate agents examinations, worked full time with a licensed real estate agency for two years, submitted two task papers to Bovaea and finally passed an interview with Bovaea. A licensed real estate agent can employ up to 20 real estate negotiators to assist them in carrying out their business. Under Section 30 of the Valuers, Appraisers Draft KK Local Plan 2020 Still Open for Debate and Estate Agents Act 1981, real estate agents found operating without a licence will face a fine not exceeding RM300,000 or imprisonment not exceeding three years, or both, upon conviction. In relation to the 76 unsuspecting buyers who were conned a total of RM1.56 million by a company claiming to be a property developer recently, Wong said this could have been avoided if the victims had consulted a licensed estate agent. MIEA has advised house buyers not to deal with unregistered estate agents as they could not be held accountable if something went wrong. “If anything goes wrong along the line, they (unregistered agents) will say they are merely introducers,” says Wong. On the contrary, Wong said licensed estate agents have to be responsible for the whole transaction process until the buyers have moved into their properties. He added that registered agents would not have asked for 10 percent commission as offered by the company to property agents who successfully sold its products. “We are governed by the law that our maximum (commission) is three p