Forum: Should real estate agents be regulated under the Financial Advisers Act?
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A house is possibly the biggest purchase for Singaporeans. Naturally, people seek advice for this purchase from friends, family and, importantly, property agents.
But what happens when this advice gets blurred with financial advice?
It is not uncommon to hear property agents pitching the use of property as retirement funding or for investment.
If a person buys a property under the idea that it can be his retirement asset – an idea communicated by the property agent – surely this is considered financial advice?
Yet, if the outcome cannot be delivered, the property agent will not be held liable.
I have written to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, asking what constitutes financial advice. It replied with the guidelines on the provision of financial advisory service.
Not only are property agents not liable for this “financial advice”, but they also do not need to comply with the regulatory paperwork under the Financial Advisers Act.
Without a clear demarcation on financial advice, consumers are the ones who lose out at the end when the property retirement plan fails to deliver.
There have been discussions to regulate “finfluencers” as the line between financial advice and opinion gets blurred.
If there are regulations imposed on finfluencers, shouldn’t there be regulations for property agents when it comes to financial advice? There surely is more material impact from a property agent’s financial advice than that of an influencer.
Dylon Poh
