MALAYSIAN ESTATE AGENCY STANDARDS
Go here to read the difference from Standard 6 MEAS 2014.
STANDARD 6
ADVERTISEMENTING AND MARKETING
6.1.0 INTRODUCTION
6.1.1 Advertising the property for sale, purchase, letting or renting is an important aspect of the work of an estate agency firm and this aspect of the work requires essentially that the advertising is done tastefully, professionally, with no misrepresentation and must not mislead the public as to the facts of the property.
6.1.2 Estate agents should recognize that the profession needs to maintain its goodwill with the public and it is imperative not to do harm to the profession by advertising in an unbecoming manner or without good taste.
6.2.0 STATEMENTS OF STANDARD
6.2.1 An estate agents must ensure that advertisements and public statements shall not bring the profession into disrepute and that they are responsible, accurate and not sensational in content.
6.2.2 An Any form of advertisement in any media, whether in the mass media, electronic, digital or mobile media, shall comply with the following conditions:-
6.2.2.1 It The advertisement shall contain:-
- 6.2.2.1.1 The name, registration number and office telephone number of the estate agency firm;
- 6.2.2.1.2 The name, mobile number and certification/registration number of the REN/registered person, respectively; all of which shall be prominently displayed; and
- 6.2.2.1.3
It shall containNo comparative or superlative description of the estate agency practice; - 6.2.2.1.4
The advertiser makesNo claim by the advertiser to be an expert in any specialized field; and - 6.2.2.1.5
ThePublished information must be factual.
6.2.3 The firm is permitted to insert any All forms of advertisement, announcements or felicitations in the mass media, electronic or digital media shall comply with the conditions as stated in 6.2.2 above, with the exception of newspaper advertisements which shall contain at a minimum the registration and office telephone number of the estate agency firm; and the certification/registration number of the REN/registered person; all of which shall be prominently displayed.
6.2.4 The estate agent shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that advertisements placed by him to promote the sale, purchase, letting, leasing, renting and/or tenancy administration of a property are:-
- 6.2.4.1 Accurate and factual;
- 6.2.4.2 Tasteful;
- 6.2.4.3 Not written in glowing terms which overstate the virtues of the property; and
- 6.2.4.4 Not misleading.
6.2.5 Advertisements should be placed in proper places as allowed by the relevant authorities.
6.2.6 The estate agent shall only replace or remove another estate agency firm's signboard from any property provided always he has the written consent of the client and has duly communicated this information to the other estate agency firm via a letter.
6.2.7 Flyers are permitted under the following conditions:-
- 6.2.7.1 The contents in the flyer shall specify the types of property for sale/rental/lease or wanted; and
- 6.2.7.2 The flyer shall contain:
- 6.2.7.2.1
produced in a firm's letterhead which bears theThe name, registration number andtheoffice telephone number, addressof the estate agency firmand shall carry the signature of the estate agent. - 6.2.7.2.2 The name, mobile number(s) and certification/registration number of the REN/registered person, respectively;
- 6.2.7.2.1
6.2.7.3 Every flyer must carry the following statement:-
"Person responding to this flyer are not required to pay any estate agency fee whatsoever for properties referred to in this flyer as this firm is already retained by a particular principal."
Added 12 Dec, 2022
This statement was inserted back by Circular 31/2020 later on. Please go here to see the Circular. Hence, although it is deleted in MEAS2020, flyers with "Wanted" still requires to included this statement.
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6.2.11 8 A Any estate agency firm teaming up with foreign developers, estate agents or owners to sell foreign properties must ensure that they comply with the following conditions whereby the local estate agency firm must Standards 6.2.12 and 6.2.13:
- 6.2.8.1
6.2.14The local firm mustHave adequate knowledge of the property and the foreign country's framework of the real estate law and practice before it accepts the assignment. - 6.2.8.2
6.2.12 The local firm mustObtain written permission from the Board before the sale or marketing of the foreign property, whereby each such permit to sell foreign properties shall be valid for a minimum period of six (6) months for any location(s) in Malaysia. - 6.2.8.3
6.2.16 The approval number given by the Board shall beProminently displayedthe approved number given by the board in all advertisements. - 6.2.8.4
6.2.15 The local firm mustbe accorded due prominence in all advertisementsand shall play a major role by actively participating in the transaction. - 6.2.8.5 Play a major role by actively participating in the transaction and ensure that its local sales assistants shall be present at any of the specified locations in Malaysia during the promotional period of the foreign properties;
- 6.2.8.6
13The minimum fee chargeable is1%2% of the Sale Price.
6.3.0 EXPLANATIONS TO THE STANDARD
6.3.1 Factual advertisements can have modern marketing concepts.
6.3.2 Should not overstate/oversell the property means basically that the firm should, with the use of as few words as possible paint a word picture of the advantages to be gained by owning a particular property.
6.3.3 Immediately means as soon as is reasonably practicable in the circumstances.
6.3.4 A cardinal principle is the need for care and accuracy on the firm's part, in what it says and what it writes, not only to be true but not to be misleading by being incomplete or biased on the particular subject and if it is in doubt to leave it out.
6.3.5 The firm should consider it worthwhile, as a precaution, sending the draft particulars to the clients and asking them to advise them urgently if they have reason to believe that any statement is inaccurate or misleading.
Ref:
Verbatim from Standard 6, MEAS 2018.