Dishonest Agent

[Maeryn 0]

If you are taking a bank loan and would like to speed up the 2nd appointment date, best check with your lawyers how soon can they finish all the paperwork after the 1st appointment date. My lawyers took 5 weeks cos they said CPF generally takes 3-4 weeks to release the funds. However, the 2nd appointment date has to be mutually agreed by the Sellers too. I was lucky that my Sellers agreed since their new place only require minor touch ups so we told the HDB officer during the 1st appointment.

Your lawyers will advise you the amount they need from you for the deposit and stamp duties. Pass them the cheque and they will settle the transaction accordingly. They will refund you the stamp duties once CPF releases the funds. You need not attend the 2nd appointment in person, you could ask the lawyer to attend on your behalf. They will collect the keys, pay the conservancy charges and property tax on your behalf. You can collect the keys from them on the same day.

Edited August 29, 2007 by Maeryn

[zirhk3355 1]

Its not that people do not want to DIY, but being pressurised into engaging an agent. If you met with the seller's agent and you are represented, chances are you will not be allowed to view the flat unless you agree to engage him/her as your agent also.

The key issue is how to 'counter-cheat' the seller's agent and let him/her allow you to buy the flat without paying any commission.

BTW interesting forum ( WHICH THIS MODERATOR HAS DELETED ALL LINKS) you got there...

Edited September 27, 2007 by yoongf

[noNOsense 0]

counter cheat seller's agent? how? can PM me?

im a buyer and this seller agent service is terrible and threaten us if never pay him commision. make us sign the commission paper and was **** rude.

[teacubet 0]

I am also one of those being cheated by the seller's agent (and my agent very useless) and my first appt was not a pleasant experience..

I hope by sharing with you guys my expereince, it will save further headache to first time HDB buyer in future (and of course to prevent the unscrupulous agents from cheating us) here's my account:

First appt:

1. We went in to the officer room and the officer gave us a date (last week of April) for our second appointment. This date is ard the 6/7th week of completion as recommended by HDB.

2. The seller found out that the date is last week of April and he want the second appt to be in first week of May.

3. Seller agent told us he told my agent (buyer) that seller can only move out on the first week of May, and that my agent agreed. (We did not know of any agreement made by them)

4. My agent is overseas and he is represented by his manager. Since he is not there, we called him and he denied the seller's agent told him anything of this delay/ date.

5. We refuse to budge even though it's one week coz the seller agent obviously trying to deny. (our agent is my husband ex colleague, and he seem to be trustworthy) And we got our furnitures already coz we thought we can move them in by May

6. To our horror we found out something extra:

Our OTP was submitted very late (ard 1 month of the max grace period). My friend who bought her house the sametime as me got her keys in late feb 08, but i have to wait till first week of may. We tried to call our agent to find out why our first appt is so long but he said this date is set by HDB. We wonder why, but since the agent (supposed to have more knowledge) said that, we just let it rest and blame it on our luck. But to our horror, we realised tt the seller agent deliberately send in the OTP 1 month late coz he know his seller can only vacate the flat then (So if he send that OTP in by the max allowable period, he can allow his seller to stay for an additional month)

7. We are furious and upset upon knowing this but our agent (the manager) initially said give in to seller demand. We refused, then he just said scarastically, let HDB decide and if they dont want to move, just ask police to chase them out.

8. Seller is also upset adn threaten not to sell the house.

We are cheated by the seller agent, adn we paid a high COV just to get this house in Dec 07 coz we need his house urgently. But we have to wait till May to get our keys. My agent manager also give us lousy service and most of the time, we call HDB when we need advise. example:

1. We called the manager to ask what documentss to bring for first appt. He said IC (only). When we "prompt" him, he said he will ask an experience colleague to call us back. But we waited for 1 month and he din get anyone to call. In the end, we called HDB for the list to bring.

2. Manager did not remind us of the appt, and my husband has to remind him. Even then he does not reply back until the morning of the appt (8 am, and the appt at 9am)

3. Did not protect our interest when seller want to stay longer even though we need this flat urgently. He asked us just to give in to the seller demand, and when we said no repeatedly, he said "just call police when they dont move out"

Anyway it was complicated, to save the hassle, we decide to compromise and let them stay 1 more week.

---My agent went overseas and the case was handed over to the agent's manager. However this manager was not of help to us. It give us even more distress.. My friends who know the story said we shd cut the agent fee.

Any advise anyone?

Edited April 7, 2008 by teacubet

[delirious_jeff 0]

1. From what I have seen, if the apartment that the agent is selling is good, the seller's agent do not want to co-broke. This means the seller's agent shall earn the 2% commission from the seller and 1% from the buyer.

-> Do the searching yourself.

2. Seller's agent represented the seller, and we had no one. The agent told us that the seller can vacate by mid Jan. However, on the 1st appointment, the sellers said they needed more time to move out. The agent said he also did not know about this until that they. Legally, the sellers are given 8 weeks to move out. No choice, we have to agree to their terms. So, we had to give them another 2 weeks.

-> Always be prepare for such things.

3. We refused to pay the agent commission until he ensure that the sellers moves out by the date agreed AND everything has to be removed when we inspect the unit prior to the completion (some owners leave behind a ton of junk) AND all keys are surrendered (some owners fail to give keys to some of the doors in the house). He got his commission on the last day.

-> Schedule to inspect house 2 days before completion, schedule the completion in the afternoon so you schedule to go the purchased apartment in the morning to check that the keys you get open all the doors and window grille locks in the house.

Edited April 7, 2008 by delirious_jeff

[kewin 0]

Is your HDB officer name call Ting S.... J...

I also kanna this issue that can moved out later. Now I am having problem..

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=13105

Edited April 8, 2008 by kewin

[delirious_jeff 0]

The name of the HDB officer attending to my case is not Ting. Day after day, the HDB officer must have seen so many of such cases. I felt that the HDB officer know more about resale transaction rules than my agent. He gave us some good advice. At the end, he stressed that HDB will not act as a mediator, and can only help to process the transaction and documents. So, what role does the agent play? I personally think they are useful for collecting magic "COV"s.

[teacubet 0]

The name of the HDB officer attending to my case is not Ting. Day after day, the HDB officer must have seen so many of such cases. I felt that the HDB officer know more about resale transaction rules than my agent. He gave us some good advice. At the end, he stressed that HDB will not act as a mediator, and can only help to process the transaction and documents. So, what role does the agent play? I personally think they are useful for collecting magic "COV"s.

Totally agree hands down. Why willl the agent care at all? My agent's manager just said "call the police" SCARASTICALLY.. WTF.. bad service.. !!

and nope.. my HDB officer is not "Ting".. now i think the HDB officer are very scared of complains.. too many of such cases. Hence i was made to sign a letter saying that it was mutual consent to let the seller move out at the date proposed by them and not HDB..

Anyway i think buyer are always at a losing end.. My friend got her house ard 10k COV and earn 1 month rent from the seller (coz seller urgent to sell and their house reno not ready) It was a super good deal in my eye.. but then the house's floor end up badly scratched when the seller move out (dunno they did it deliberately or not)

Moral of the story:

1. Hire a unscrupulous agent who know how to protect yr own interest (like my case, the seller agent tricked us hence the seller can stay 1 more month plus without paying any rental

2. Dont halfway change agent. (If you know yr agent has other commitment, must ensure he doesnt leave yr things halfway undone and pass it to someone..) Mine was super unlucky.. I met an incompetent fool who caused us more trouble

3. Always check when yr agent/ seller agent submit the OTP (very important).. coz if u dont track this, the agent can submit till the 1 month of the max grace period

4. Ask for prove when the seller agent/ buyer agent say "yr agent agree with me tt u will only get the keys on XX date"

5. Good luck and pray u meet nice ppl

Wish me luck.. Hope everythig goes well.. It's been a long long wait (half a year!!)