HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD (Conduct of examinations for housing agents)

Mr Ang Mong Seng asked the Minister for National Development whether the Housing and Development Board has any plan to conduct examinations for housing agents who do not qualify for the Common Examination for House Agents.

Mr Koo Tsai Kee (for the Minister for National Development): Sir, the Common Examination for House Agents (CEHA) is conducted by the Board of Examiners chaired by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) with representation from the associations representing the different housing agencies.

Since December 1995, the HDB has implemented the Listed Housing Agents Scheme (LHAS) to encourage housing agents to conduct resale transactions in a professional and above-the-table manner. To be admitted into the LHAS, housing agencies must ensure that their agents possess the relevant qualifications recognised by IRAS. There are now 416 housing agencies in the HDB's LHAS list.

The Common Examination for House Agents conducted by IRAS has served the purpose of raising the standard of professionalism among housing agents. There is therefore no need for HDB to conduct another examination for the housing agents.

Mr Ang Mong Seng (Bukit Gombak): Sir, I understand that people who are qualified to take the CEHA examination must have at least 3 O' levels. My question is: for those who do not have 3 O' levels, will the HDB consider conducting a separate course for these people? I understand that if half of the staff of a company are not qualified, the whole company is not allowed to be a housing agency, thereby affecting the employment of a number of staff who have been doing housing agency work for many years.

Mr Koo Tsai Kee: There are several points. The first point is that housing agents are professionals. So there must be a minimum qualification, because they are dealing with buying and selling of a commodity that runs into hundreds of thousands of dollars. In a professional hand, a buyer and seller will have the peace of mind. This is the number one point.

The second point is that it is true that since January 1997, only agents 21 years and above and who possess at least 3 GCE `O' level passes are allowed to sit for the CEHA. But some time back, HDB did make a one-off exercise to exempt experienced housing agents from this examination. In order to be exempted from the CEHA, the housing agent must be at least 50 years old as at 31st December 1995; at least 10 years' experience in the transacting of properties in the industry; must have closed at least 20 transactions for HDB flats; must have enrolled for the CEHA and attended 80% of the classes but unfortunately failed the examination. But they must submit the exemption before 1st July 1997. So those who have submitted before 1st July and satisfied these requirements have been given a one-off exercise of being admitted to the LHAS. Those who have come to Mr Ang might have come after the closing date.

Dr Toh See Kiat: Sir, if housing agents are professionals, what would the Ministry say about the professionals who are qualified and who allow their names to be used by non-qualified people to conduct business?

Mr Koo Tsai Kee: Sir, that is one reason why the HDB is tightening up the transactions of resale flats. Just to give Dr Toh an idea, the CEHA examinations are conducted by IRAS, as I said earlier on, and administered jointly by the professional bodies of the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers (SISV), the Association of Realtors (ASR) and the Association of Real Estate Agents (ASREA). In fact, the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers is the Secretariat to the Board of Examiners. Sir, these examinations are overseen by professionals.