PropNex Realty spearheads fair practice and co-broking standards among local industry

From left first row: PropNex executive director, Kelvin Fong; Key Executive Officer, Lim Yong Hock; Chief Executive Officer, Ismail Gafoor; Deputy Secretary-General of National Trades Union Congress and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office, Desmond Tan; RES Chapter Committee Chairperson, Stella Thio. (Picture: PropNex Realty

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - On Monday Nov 28, real estate agency PropNex Realty announced a new Tripartite Standard on Grievance Handling and Co-broking.

The tripartite standard aims to secure the welfare and promote professionalism among local real estate salespersons. It is also a platform for agents to raise issues and to protect their business-related interests.

This formalised framework is supported by Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union (SISEU), and the announcement was witnessed by Desmond Tan, deputy secretary-general of National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office.

A key challenge faced by real estate agents is the lack of common co-broking practices and dealing with fellow agents.

PropNex cited an internal online survey of 1,000 respondents from June 20 to July 15 this year, which found that 93% of respondents “faced difficulties getting viewing slots when representing buyers or tenants”. Meanwhile, 87% indicated that they “want a minimum-commission sharing enforced by the company (PropNex)”.

“One of the key concerns that has been significantly raised by salespersons on the ground is the need for fair practice for co-broking in the market. Salespersons, especially those who work in the rental market, shared how challenging it is to co-broke with fellow salespersons to secure the listings for their clients,” says Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex Realty.

He adds that this makes it important for the agency to set a company-level co-broking standard to “protect our salespersons and consumers in the long run”.

In the event that disputes between agents arise, the Tripartite Standard on Grievance Handling is an impartial settlement arena. It will be supervised by the Real Estate Chapter of SISEU.

“I am glad that PropNex is adopting the Tripartite Standards on Grievance Handling, setting the guidelines on how disputes will be managed and resolved, as well as providing the guidelines on co-broking commissions,” says Minister Tan.