Sales law falling flat, says watchdog
With no prosecutions after 18 months, ban on misleading tactics is criticised as 'ineffective'
Unfair sales practices by developers and property agents remain common more than a year after a law was introduced to combat them, the Consumer Council says.
In a critical report released yesterday, the consumer watchdog said the Residential Properties (First-hand Sales) Ordinance offered "insufficient deterrence" to malpractice. However, the body representing developers said it was "bemused" by the watchdog's claims.
The law was intended to ban a swathe of misleading marketing practices, including inflating the advertised size of flats.
But the law contains loopholes and enforcement is ineffective, the 160-page report says.
The council pointed out that not a single prosecution had been brought since the law took effect in April last year.
Asked whether that was a sign the Sales of First-hand Residential Properties Authority - the body set up to enforce the law - was failing in its duty, council chief executive Gilly Wong Fung-han said: "It is an objective fact that there have been zero prosecutions. The [authority] has been adopting a strategy of appealing to or advising sellers to comply … and cautioning consumers against bad practices."