Spike in illegal real estate agents worrying, laments Bovaea

KUALA LUMPUR: A man who was recently jailed for cheating 30 people is not a registered real estate agent (REA) or certified real estate negotiator (REN), says the Board of Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents Malaysia (Bovaea).
Its president, Datuk Faizan Abdul Rahman said the increasing number of people caught posing as illegal agents and arrested for their misdeeds had been worrisome.
"Official complaints are also on the rise, and Bovaea has been keeping tabs on the situation and educating the public on such illegal brokers," he said in a statement here today.
He said however, there seemed to be a lackadaisical attitude on the part of the public to be self-vigilant in dealing with illegals.
He said to be a registered REA, an individual had to pass the board's examinations and be registered with the board, while a REN needed to be certified and employed by a REA who was directly responsible for the REN's conduct and actions.
He was commenting on a Johor Bahru Magistrate's Court case on June 5, whereby a 'property agent' was sentenced to 16 years' jail and ordered to be given 30 strokes of the rotan for 30 counts of cheating in the purchase and investment of auction homes.
Muhammad Asid Abd Jalil, 35, who pleaded guilty to the charges was charged with dishonestly inducing 30 individuals to hand over a total of RM382,117 through their bank accounts and a gold chain at several locations in the city between May 2013 and April 2 this year.
Faizan said there were a large number of cheating cases which went unreported as they involved less amounts of money.
Incidents of illegal brokers could be avoided if buyers and property owners checked the registration of the said practitioners, he said He said the public could cross-check the REN tag number with the Bovaea
website at www.propertyagent.gov.my or www.lppeh.gov.my — Bernama