MIEA supports having separate board to regulate estate agents

PETALING JAYA (Oct 31): The Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) supports the call for the creation of a separate board made by the Malaysian Institute of Professional Property Managers and Facility Managers (MIPFM) president Sarkunan Subramaniam recently.

MIEA president Eric Lim said in a press statement that it was time for the government, after 32 years of the passing of Act 242, to review and evaluate the effective managing of the profession and determine its future direction.

“MIEA has long made the call for the creation of a separate board for real estate agents, to more effectively regulate its practitioners,” he said.

He said that the profession is currently regulated under The Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents Act 1981 (Act 242) by the Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers (BOVEAP), which comes under the purview of the Finance Ministry.

He also said that the current board was overwhelmed regulating the four professions under the real estate services industry, namely property managers, valuers, appraisers and real estate agents.

“The real estate profession should be regulated by its practitioners, similar to other professional bodies in Malaysia and Singapore.”

MIEA had set up the special task force, comprising prominent and longstanding members of the industry, in 2010 and then in 2017, to study the matter of a separate board, said special task force chairman and current MIEA CEO Soma Sundram.

The task forces had unanimously agreed that having a separate board would lead to better outcomes for the profession as a whole.

“We need a regulatory body whose representatives better understand the realities of the industry, and we are concerned about the future of the profession. In terms of practice standards, we are 25 years behind developed countries like the United States and Australia,” said Soma.

MIEA's press statement was in response BOVAEP president Nordin Daharom's statement yesterday that there was no need for separate boards regulating the real estate services profession.

“The future of the 25,000 real estate practitioners in Malaysia will be under threat if nothing is done to address these concerns. MIEA therefore proposes for a dialogue with the Minister of Finance to establish solutions that addresses the many frustrations our members are facing in a sector that supports the nation. A separate board would enable real estate agents to be relevant and progressive, and determine the future of the industry,” said Soma.