Last-minute training reprieve for property agents

-- PHOTO: ERA REALTY

PROPERTY agents who have yet to clock up enough training hours under a new government requirement have been given a last-minute reprieve from the original March 31 deadline.

They now have one more month - up until April 30 - to amass the stipulated six hours of training a year, said the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) yesterday.

Those who fail to do so will not have their licences renewed.

Industry sources estimate that as much as 10 per cent of the total agency workforce, or up to 3,000 agents, have not met the new requirement.

Agency bosses point to a variety of reasons. Some agents have other work commitments, or have not committed to real estate as a career. Others say they simply have no time to go for training.

Such training - termed Continuing Professional Development (CPD) - was one of the key elements in a push by the CEA to raise professional standards in the real estate industry.

According to the CEA, which started operations in October 2010, all real estate agents must undertake six hours of training a year in order to retain their right to work in real estate.

The requirement took effect on April 1 last year.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, CEA deputy director (policy and planning) Cheryl Lim confirmed that the deadline has been extended from today to April 30, after which agents are no longer allowed to work in real estate.

'As this is the first year of implementation of the CPD scheme, we understand that there are some key executive officers and salespersons who need some time to adjust to the new framework,' she said.

The extension was communicated to agency bosses earlier this month.

Of the 30,600 registered property agents here, about 20,000 need to fulfil the training requirement. The rest do not need to, as they might have joined just this year, or have provisional registration, meaning they have until the end of June to pass the required examinations.

ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim said the training bottleneck could be attributed to a number of factors. Some, he said, could have been too busy trying to close deals. Others might be working part-time and have run into difficulty attending CPD courses, as most are conducted during work hours.

As a result of this, ERA Realty, which has about 4,800 agents, recently started conducting night classes in order to clear the backlog.

'They can be quite full. Last week, we had more than 80 people attending our night classes every night,' he said.

PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail, whose agency employs 4,000 agents, offered another reason.

'There are agents who aren't serious about the business. They may have qualified as they have closed deals recently, but don't intend to pursue the career any more as some costs have gone up,' he said.

Citing an example, he said an agent now has to be prepared to pay up to $600 a year just to stay in the game. This includes registration and professional indemnity insurance.

'These are costs to be paid upfront without closing a single deal. It may no longer be their cup of tea,' he said, predicting that up to 1,000 agents may end up not going for the training and may voluntarily drop out of the industry.

OrangeTee key executive officer Michael Tan said his firm has been busy calling up agents to remind them of the training requirement.

'Even with an extension, they shouldn't leave it till the last minute,' he said. 'It's a continuous process to upgrade yourself and keep your knowledge current. And that translates into a better image for the industry as a whole.'

Moving forward, Ms Lim said CEA would continue to monitor the ground and take in feedback, to see if there is a need to increase the variety of courses, or the number of qualified service providers.

Agent Peter Tan, 31, who has done only two hours' worth of training, said: 'Every day is a fight to do well for myself and my family, so training is not a priority. But to be fair, it's not hard to complete, so I'll just go after my next deal.'

3,000

Estimated number of property agents who have yet to clock up the required training hours. They run the risk of losing their licences

20,000

Total number of property agents who need to fulfil training requirement