Watchdog to step up monitoring of Hong Kong estate agents as more flats are rolled out

The real estate agents' watchdog will step up the monitoring of agents' practices as more first-hand residential flats are rolled out later this year.

The Estate Agents Authority reported yesterday it had received 135 complaints against agents in the first half of the year, a decline of 27 per cent over the same period last year. It attributed the drop to the "concerted" efforts it and the trade had made.

Complaints centred on the failure to conduct a land search or provide a copy of a search and providing inaccurate or misleading property information, the watchdog said.

Authority chairman William Leung Wing-cheung said three of the complaints were related to agents making loans to clients in the sale of first-hand properties.

There were 11 such complaints last year, a jump from only two cases in 2013.

"The authority reined in the problem when it first appeared. We hope the industry will get the message that it is a serious irregularity," said Leung, noting it would take time to achieve zero complaints.