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SINGAPORE: ERA Realty Network (ERA) has been issued a letter of censure by the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) for failing to manage and supervise a property agent after multiple complaints against him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Abel Ang Pei Xiong had been fined and suspended for five months – from October 2023 to March 2024 – for publishing property advertisements containing inaccurate and misleading information, according to CEA.<\/span><\/p>\n After the suspension ended, CEA continued to receive complaints about him over advertisements with inaccurate property pricing.<\/span><\/p>\n Detailing why the letter of censure was issued, the council said in an article on its website on Thursday (Jan 8) that ERA had committed three breaches under the Code of Practice for Estate Agents.<\/span><\/p>\n According to the council, ERA had failed to manage and supervise its real estate agent to “ensure that he did not post advertisements that contained misleading or inaccurate information”.<\/span><\/p>\n It did not have “proper systems and processes” to manage and supervise its suspended real estate agent.<\/span><\/p>\n ERA also failed to recover the estate agent card from the suspended personnel, said the council.<\/span><\/p>\n A letter of censure is issued for disciplinary breaches that are assessed to be less serious.<\/span><\/p>\n If a breach is deemed serious, the matter will generally be referred to the council’s disciplinary committee.<\/span><\/p>\n Some considerations taken to assess whether a breach is less serious are when it has resulted in low or no financial loss for parties involved in transactions; the estate agency or salesperson had no or low wrongful gain; and when the people involved were not dishonest.<\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, ERA was issued composition notices for associating with three suspended real estate agents when they were not registered.<\/span><\/p>\n This is the first time a real estate agency among the top five in terms of headcount has been censured.<\/span><\/p>\n CNA has contacted CEA for more information on the other suspended property agents.<\/span><\/p>\n Mr Ang’s suspension from October 2023 to March 2024 arose after CEA received multiple complaints against him for posting advertisements that contained inaccurate pricing and misleading or inaccurate information on the property listed, the council said on its website.<\/span><\/p>\n CEA added that it approached ERA\u2019s key executive officer in March 2022 to advise that ERA should “vet Ang\u2019s advertisement listings for accuracy before they were posted, as ERA had a responsibility to do so” under the estate agents’ code of practice.<\/span><\/p>\n However, the council noted that it continued to receive complaints and found more advertisements posted by Mr Ang that contained inaccurate property pricing, even after Mr Ang\u2019s suspension ended in March 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n He was subsequently referred to a disciplinary committee again and was fined S$28,000 and suspended for six months in October 2025, according to CEA.<\/span><\/p>\n “Due to the numerous instances of inaccurate and misleading advertisements by Mr Ang, and the fact that breaches continued to occur after CEA\u2019s advisory to ERA\u2019s key executive officer, it was clear that ERA failed to carry out its responsibility under COPEA (Code of Practice for Estate Agents),” the council added.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nFIRST BREACH<\/span><\/h2>\n