SINGAPORE is threatening to cancel the licences of property agents promoting overseas projects unless they look after the interests of local consumers. Properties to be marketed would need good title which could be conveyed to the Singaporean buyers. Inland Revenue has notified developers of the move, which Colliers Jardine Singapore director of residential and project marketing Chan Yiap Kong said put the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of licensed agents. He said the Inland Revenue had written to agents warning them they would face action unless they ensured marketed projects were viable. Australian property industry representatives yesterday said agents who had been mentioned in the Australian press in the past few months discussing or referring to Singaporean investment in local property had also received a letter. Singaporeans have in the past two years snapped up a vast amount of residential and medium-range commercial and retail property in Australia. China is the second most popular investment destination. Mr Chan said there had been no reported cases of buyers losing money but there were worries from some investors that projects in China would not be completed because of the economic clampdown. The onus would be on the agent to check the developer was bona fide and had adequate financial resources to complete the project. Agents would need to ensure all official planning and development approvals had been obtained. Mr Chan said they would also need to check land titles and obtain approval for property sale to foreign investors. A large volume of property from Australia, the United States and New Zealand has been marketed in Singapore through increasingly popular property exhibitions as values in those countries have declined.
