What do you sign when you appoint a property agent in Singapore?
When you appoint a property agent, the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) advises you to sign one of the agreement forms it prescribes; the forms are not mandatory, but CEA strongly encourages them. Under an exclusive agreement, one agency acts for you for a validity period of up to three months at a time, and the agreement can be renewed. You owe that agency commission on a deal made during the period, even if you close it yourself or through another agency, and on a deal in the following three months with someone it introduced. Under a non-exclusive agreement, several agencies may act for you with no fixed end date, and only the agency that brings the deal to completion is paid. Commission is open to negotiation, and one agent may never act for both parties to a single deal.
The eight prescribed agreements
CEA's page of agreements and checklists offers eight prescribed forms. They cover a sale of residential property, a purchase, a lease by a landlord and a lease by a tenant, each in an exclusive and a non-exclusive version. Every form states that it is meant only for property that is wholly or partly residential and located in Singapore.
The agreement is a binding contract between you and the property agency, CEA's page on engaging an agent says. It lists the duties of the agency and the agent, the agreed commission rate, and the duty to declare any actual or potential conflict of interest. Using the templates is not mandatory, though CEA strongly encourages it, according to its 2023 article for agents.
Exclusive or non-exclusive
CEA's page on engaging an agent compares the two kinds. Under an exclusive agreement, you appoint only one property agency for a validity period of up to three months. The agreement can be renewed, and each renewal is likewise capped at three months. If you sell, buy or lease during the validity period, you owe that agency commission, even if another agency handled the deal or you completed it on your own. For three months after the period ends, you still owe it commission if the other party is someone the agency introduced while the agreement was valid. Under a non-exclusive agreement, you appoint more than one property agency with no specified validity period. You pay commission to the agency that successfully helps you complete the transaction.
Under CEA's non-exclusive form for a sale, you pay commission only on a sale to a buyer the agent introduced. Both sale forms say you owe nothing if the deal falls through without fault on your part. For an HDB property, you also owe nothing if the deal falls through because you are ineligible to sell under HDB's rules.
Commission and GST
There is no fixed commission, according to CEA's page on engaging an agent. You are free to negotiate the amount or rate. CEA's article on the agreements gives one option: a flat fee instead of a percentage. CEA also asks you to clarify whether GST is included. Only GST-registered property agencies can charge GST, it notes.
Once the deal is done, CEA says the agreed commission goes to the property agency, and not to the agent personally. If you allow co-broking, the forms let your agent share the commission with a co-broking agent. You are not liable to pay the co-broking agent any commission.
The agent's duties, and one party only
The schedule of duties in CEA's exclusive sale form includes marketing the property with reasonable diligence, arranging viewings, representing you in negotiations, promptly forwarding all offers, and advancing your interest unaffected by anyone else's. Every form requires the agent to state any conflict of interest. If a conflict arises later, the agent must disclose it to you in writing at once. The agent may then carry on only with your fully informed written consent.
Your agent acts and collects commission for your side alone, CEA's page on engaging an agent says. Accepting appointments from both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction, or from the landlord as well as the tenant, is an offence. With your consent, the agent can still assist the other side with paperwork. The agent must state clearly that they are not acting for that side and will take no fee from it.
Before and after you sign
Before you sign, CEA asks you to have the agent go through the clauses with you. Sign only once you understand them all, especially the commission clauses. CEA's article on the agreements encourages signing at the very beginning, before any work starts. Any extra terms go in the space provided or on a separate pink sheet. The forms require extra terms to be in writing, dated and initialled, and they cannot conflict with or vary the prescribed terms.
Your agent will also ask you to fill in a Customer's Particulars Form, which CEA's page says is mandatory. The form helps to identify the parties and to reduce the risk of money laundering, proliferation financing and terrorism financing. Before you commit, CEA suggests checking the agent's details on the CEA Public Register. The same check is worth making whether you found the agent through the ranked list on this site or by recommendation.
If a dispute arises, the forms provide for mediation under CEA's scheme first, and then arbitration. You can opt out of either by electing in writing not to take part. If you do not answer the agency's written enquiry within three weeks, you are treated as having elected not to proceed. More on what to do in a dispute with a property agent.