Frequently Asked Questions

The following questions and answers are provided by the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) and are based on the principles and requirements of Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures. They are intended to guide estate agents and salespersons in fulfilling their regulatory obligations under the applicable laws and CEA guidelines.

AML

Can salespersons and clients complete and electronically sign the Customer’s Particulars Form and Real Estate Salesperson’s Checklist on Customer Due Diligence?

Both the Real Estate Salesperson’s Checklist on Customer Due Diligence and Customer’s Particulars Form may be completed and signed in hard copy or electronically. In addition, estate agents must keep a proper record of both documents and the supporting documents. The records may be kept in hard copy or in electronic form and must be kept for five years from the date of the transaction.

AML

Do estate agents and salespersons have to complete the Real Estate Salesperson’s Checklist on Customer Due Diligence and Customer’s Particulars Form for every transaction that he facilitates for a client whom he has an ongoing relationship with?

Under regulation 9 of the Estate Agents (Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism) Regulations, where an estate agent has an ongoing business relationship with a client, the estate agent or salesperson must perform ongoing monitoring.

Examples of such clients are a developer who appoints the same estate agents or salespersons to market its various projects, a corporate client who regularly engages the same estate agent or salesperson to help its foreign employees find rental accommodation, or a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) property manager who engages the same estate agent or salesperson to lease out the properties it manages, etc.

Ongoing monitoring requires the estate agent or salesperson to periodically review the information and documents obtained as a result of customer due diligence measures to ascertain whether the transactions carried out by the client are consistent with the estate agent/salesperson's knowledge of the client and to identify suspicious transactions. Refer to paragraphs 46 to 48 and Annex F of the PMLFT Guide for guidance on ongoing monitoring.

AML

Does a salesperson have to complete the Real Estate Salesperson’s Checklist on Customer Due Diligence for his client?

Salespersons are advised to

- complete the Real Estate Salesperson’s Checklist on Customer Due Diligence (CDD) on the client that they represent, and

- obtain and record the client’s identity in the Customer’s Particulars Form and request that their client acknowledge that the information recorded in the Customer’s Particulars Form is accurate.

This applies to:

- all types of property transactions including sale, purchase, lease, renewal of leases, en bloc, and

- all property types including residential, commercial, industrial, and foreign property.

AML

Does a salesperson who represents his client in a room-rental transaction (such as rooms in an HDB flat or a private property) have to complete the Real Estate Salesperson’s Checklist on Customer Due Diligence and Customer’s Particulars Form?

For every property transaction, salespersons must perform Customer Due Diligence (CDD) measures under the Estate Agents (Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism) Regulations 2021. CDD measures include identifying and verifying the client's identity. Salerspersons are advised to complete the Real Estate Salesperson's Checklist on Customer Due Diligence on the client that they represent, and obtain and record the client’s identity in the Customer’s Particulars Form and request that their client acknowledge that the information recorded in the Customer’s Particulars Form is accurate.

This requirement applies when salespersons facilitate the rental of rooms in HDB flats or private properties and whole flat or apartment rentals for their clients

AML

I was asked by my salesperson to sign the Customer’s Particulars Form that recorded my personal particulars such as identification number and date of birth. Why is this procedure required and what are the safeguards to protect my personal particulars?

Estate agents and salespersons are required to obtain and record the personal information of their clients, which is done by completing the Customer’s Particulars Form. The information will enable them to conduct due diligence checks and assess if there is any suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing activity. Due diligence checks such as those performed against the United Nations (UN) sanctions lists and checks to determine if the client is a Political Exposed Person (PEP) are requirements in accordance with the standards laid down by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The FATF is the global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog. It is an inter-governmental body that sets standards to prevent and combat money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing.

Under the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), all business entities, including estate agents and their salespersons, are required to safeguard the confidentiality of the information obtained. The Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) is empowered to take action against entities that breach the provisions of the PDPA. Estate agents and salespersons are also required to safeguard confidential information under the Estate Agents (Estate Agency Work) Regulations 2010.

AML

If estate agents and salespersons are aware that another licensed estate agent has conducted Customer Due Diligence (CDD) measures on their client, are the estate agents and salespersons still required to conduct CDD measures on the same client?

If a third party estate agent has conducted CDD measures on your client, estate agents and salespersons may rely on the CDD done by that third party, provided the following 3 conditions are met:

Estate agents and salespersons shall immediately obtain the information from CDD measures undertaken, from the third party;
Estate agents and salespersons are satisfied that the third party is able to provide the information obtained from CDD measures upon request without delay; and
The third party is regulated and supervised by CEA for compliance with prevention of money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism and is not precluded from being relied upon by CEA.

AML

In a collective sale, does the estate agent/salesperson appointed by the Collective Sales Committee have to complete the Salesperson’s Checklist on Customer Due Diligence for every subsidiary proprietor?

An estate agent/salesperson that represents a development in a collective sale is to perform customer due diligence measures for every subsidiary proprietor in the collective sale. You may refer to the Real Estate Salesperson’s Checklist on Customer Due Diligence as a guide for customer due diligence.

Salespersons are to obtain and record the identity of each subsidiary proprietor in the Customer's Particulars Form and request that the subsidiary proprietors acknowledge that the information recorded in the Customer's Particulars Form is accurate. This is because the owners of properties in the collective sale are parties to the transaction, and customer due diligence must be conducted on the owners by the estate agent/salesperson.

If customer due diligence measures required to be performed are not completed, the salesperson must not carry out any transaction for the client and determine whether to lodge a Suspicious Transaction Report.