43-year-old woman charged with working as unlicensed property agent
A 43-year-old Singaporean woman was charged in the State Courts yesterday with working as a property agent without a licence.
Vanessa Thien Cai Yan is alleged to have contacted people who posted room rental advertisements online, introducing herself as a part-time property agent on three occasions.
The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA), which brought four charges against Thien, said in a statement yesterday that this was her modus operandi, and if the home owner or the property agent agreed, Thien would allegedly help advertise the property, arrange viewings and facilitate the transaction.
At no point was Thien ever licensed by the CEA.
On Oct 2, 2017, Thien allegedly messaged a property agent via Carousell and text, looking to co-broke a rental transaction for a room in a Punggol Housing Board flat. Thien allegedly said she had prospective tenants whom she could introduce to the agent and asked for a 50 per cent share of the commission.
CEA said it was tipped off to this and conducted surveillance on her online accounts.
Further investigations revealed Thien had also allegedly presented herself as a part-time agent to family members of the owner of another Punggol flat who posted a room rental listing on Carousell, as well as to prospective tenants.
CEA said Thien wanted to charge a commission of 25 per cent of one month's rental if she closed the deal.
Thien also allegedly assisted another landlord to rent out a room in a Sengkang HDB flat sometime in November or December 2017.
She had advertised on Facebook, introduced the tenant to the landlord, facilitated the lease of the property, and received a commission of $137.50 from the landlord.
Thien is facing three charges of holding herself out as being ready to undertake, whether or not for payment or other remuneration, estate agency work as an estate agent without first being licensed by CEA.
She is also facing one count of acting as an estate agent without first being licensed by CEA.
If found guilty, the punishment for each offence is jail for up to three years, a fine of up to $75,000, or both.
The public can report those who perform unlicensed estate agency work to CEA at 1800-6432555 or feedback@cea.gov.sg
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