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| Is your housing agent doing the job right? |
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Alvin was frustrated that he had to part with a $15.5K upgrading fee for his HDB flat despite his agent's assurance that it had already been paid
for by the former owner. Sarah felt angry and wondered why she had to pay commission to her agent when the latter did not assist her at all. She had to follow up on potential buyers of her house herself and prepare her own documents for sale. Jack was shocked to find that the property he bought was only 148sqm in size when his agent had repeatedly told him that the floor area was estimated to be 195sqm. These are some nasty problems that home buyers and sellers may encounter when appointing housing agents to handle their property. And they can cause much distress. But you need to do more than just sigh and lament your luck in meeting such irresponsible or incompetent agents. You can take some action against them, including suing them for negligence and demanding that they compensate for your losses incurred. Still, before carrying out such action, you must first establish that your agent has indeed negligent in eyes of the law. Any agent has a legal obligation to care for his clients. He can be negligent due to his misconduct and failure to do something, or when he reveals important information that leads to harm, damage, loss, injury or death. If his clients are directly affected by his actions, then he can be legally held liable for the consequences. In any case, it is imnportant to establish that the agent should have foreseen that his actions or omissions would affect client and lead to losses. He ought to know that it was within his duty and that he could have reasonably taken care to prevent such losses, but did not do so. A professional real estate agent's duties are numerous, including negotiating sale prices, preparing legal documents, estimating market values of comparable types of property, and providing a fair financial analysis for the selling or buying of a house. Even though he is not bound by law to give good service, respond to paging instantly, talk politely or act with initiative, he should know that he is expected to display a certain degree of competence and guard the interests of his clients. No matter what he does, the following guidlines should apply : 1. To serve in the best interests of his clients, both the buyers and sellers of property, which includes getting the best possible sale price and protecting their interests. 2. To be entirely honest with his clients. Be it good or bad, he should reveal all information that is vital to his client's decision. 3. Never misrepresent the basic facts or appear fraudulent in any manner. He should tell his clients what he knows, and not attempt to conceal anything. If there is a problem, he should rectify it instead of trying to cover it up. Normally, a real estate agent would have learnt about his basic duties and rsponsibilities if he had received comprehensive training from a good real estate company. If he still fails in any his duties or does not fulfill his obligations to you, you could hold him responsible for his action. But before you take him to court, make sure that these conditions are satisfied as well : Once you can present your case legally, the next step would be to engage a good lawyer to take the irresponsible agent to court and get your losses back. |
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