By Shabnam Muzammil:
The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) has charged property agent Mustafa Kamal Bin Seri for receiving payment from a licensed moneylender for the loans made by his clients and handling transaction monies for his clients.
52-year old Mustafa was a registered salesperson when he committed these offences.
In February 2012, a married couple engaged his services to sell their four-room HDB flat and buy a smaller three-room flat. Mustafa later approached his clients for a personal loan amounting to S$50,000, asking them to borrow from a moneylender.
Mustafa also advised the couple to repay the moneylender with the sales proceeds of their HDB property, which the couple agreed to do.
Subsequently, he brought the couple to a licensed moneylender, where they took out three separate cash loans amounting to S$57,500. An acceptance fee of S$7,500 was deducted by the moneylender for the loans, while the remaining S$50,000 was handed over by the couple to Mustafa.
Between May and July 2012, he also received S$2,000 from the moneylender as payment for the three transactions.
As to the sale of his clients’ HDB flat in March 2012, Mustafa requested and received the Option-to-Purchase deposit of S$3,000 from the buyer and subsequently passed the money to his clients.
Following the completion of the sale in May 2012, the husband gave Mustafa S$15,000 in cash. In July of that year, Mustafa handed the money to his client’s law firm to complete their acquisition of the smaller HDB flat.
The Estate Agents Act prohibits estate agents and salespersons from introducing any moneylender to their clients and receiving commissions, rewards, fees, payments or any benefits from any moneylender for such transactions.
They are also prohibited from holding or handling any money for or on behalf of any party in relation to the sale and purchase of any Singapore property.
Shabnam Muzammil, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email shabnam@propertyguru.com.sg
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