Source : Sunday Times - 8 Feb 2009
Mr Yuen Chow Hin, an IT company vice-president, and his wife, Madam Wong Wai Fan, a housewife, sold their two-bedroom Riverside Piazza apartment for $688,000 in 2007.
They let it go at this sum as their ERA Realty Network agent Jeremy Ang said that this was the best price they could get.
Unknown to them, the buyer of the unit turned out to be Madam Natassha Sadiq, the wife of Mr Ang’s boss, Mr Mike Parikh. She quickly resold it for $945,000.
The Yuens sued ERA for the ’secret profit’ made in the second deal.
Last Thursday, a High Court judge found that the conduct of Mr Ang and Mr Parikh amounted to breach of duty and fraud, and ordered ERA to return $257,000 to the couple.
He also had a stern reminder for the industry of its ethical responsibilities.
‘If I’m interested in buying a client’s property, I will always ask his permission. I tell him I’m the one buying it and I will match the price that he is asking for. Often, clients are happy to get the price they ask for and they don’t care who buys it. You have to be upfront about it, declare yourself and explain the prices involved.’ - MS IVY LEE, chief executive officer of Ivy Lee Realty
‘Last year, the market was very hot so there were a lot of speculators, and a lot of agents earned money from flipping. Such cases do happen, but I will not do this. I feel that there will be a conflict of interests. If I were the seller, I would trust the agent to sell the property at the best price. There is no way to safeguard against people who may cheat clients when they flip property.’ - MR MUHAMAD SALLEH, property agent from HSR Property Group
No comments:
Post a Comment