SINGAPORE – A property agent has been suspended and slapped with a fine by the Council for Estate Agencies’ (CEA) for misconduct in the sale of a Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat owned by an elderly couple in their 80s, one of whom has dementia.

The PropNex Realty agent, Ng Ser Leong, 44, learned that the elderly man had wanted to sell the flat in August 2015, which he co-owned with his wife. He also found out that the wife, who is also in her 80s, suffers from an advanced stage of dementia and had been living in an old folks’ home in Pasir Ris for the past 10 years. But Ng told the man he only needed his wife’s thumbprint to proceed with the sale.

Despite knowing the woman was senile, Ng proceeded with the sale of her flat without ascertaining if his client – who is also illiterate – knew of the consequences.

Ng then visited the woman at the purpose-built home for dementia patients shortly after, and approached an employee to help him get the woman’s thumbprints on the Option to Purchase form, which is used in the sale of property, as well as an agreement citing the Ng’s agency as the exclusive agent.

The CEA said Ng had also left the details on the agreements blank, and failed to provide copies of the documents to his client. Key information in the Option to Purchase document such as the option date, flat address, option expiry date and time, purchase price, and buyer name were not filled in as the flat had not been marketed for sale yet and no buyer had been found.

Similarly, information on the first page of the estate agency agreement and exclusive estate agency agreement such as the agreement date, commencement date, and the expiry date were also not filled in.

The flat was subsequently advertised on various online property portals on Aug 13, 2015 and received a response from a potential buyer the following day.

Investigations by the CEA revealed that Ng did not maintain any further contact with his client, nor kept her abreast of with the progress of the sale of her flat, after obtaining her thumbprints.

Ng’s actions only came to light when the client’s son lodged a complaint against Ng on Sep 22, 2015. A separate complaint was lodged the following month by the potential buyer on Oct 19, 2015.

For breaching the CEA’s Code of Ethics and Professional Client Care (CEPCC), the Council’s Disciplinary Committee fined him S$3,000 and imposed a 7-month suspension.

Under CEA’s CEPCC, “estate agents and salespersons shall conduct their business and work with due diligence, despatch and care, and in compliance with all laws including statutory and regulatory requirements, and practice circulars and guidelines”.

For getting the elderly woman’s thumbprints on documents while failing to provide essential and material terms and information – such as the property address, price, dates, names, and commission payable – Ng was fined another S$3,000 and given a 4-month suspension.

The CEA said that the suspension periods will run concurrently from Oct 19.