With the emergence of a new wave of immigrants, overseas property transactions are also on the rise. The Consumer Council today (28th) announced a report requiring supervision of the sale of overseas first-hand properties in Hong Kong. The complaints have soared in recent years, and Hong Kong consumers have lost an average of 368,000. Hong Kong dollars, the average value of the properties involved is about 1.8 million Hong Kong dollars.
The study concluded that real estate agents and distributors selling overseas properties in Hong Kong do not need to be licensed, so that non-licensed agents and salespersons can take advantage of the loopholes in the exemption order to avoid supervision and are not subject to the Code of Conduct and Practice Notices of the Land Supervision Bureau In addition, advertising supervision is also seriously inadequate. In addition to misleading advertisements, practice notices are limited to the supervision of licensed real estate agents who sell unbuilt properties overseas, urging the authorities to increase control over the sale of overseas properties.
The Consumer Council today issued a research report on overseas home ownership complaints. It counts the related complaints received by the Consumer Council from 2017 to the present. It is found that there is an upward trend in complaints. There have been 106 complaints in the first eight months of this year, of which 94 involved uncompleted properties. This is almost double the total of 56 cases last year.
The Consumer Council stated that 90% of the complaints involved real estate agents and 63% involved non-licensed agents; complaints generally involved wrong status and misrepresentation; overestimation of property prices prevented the inability to obtain mortgage loans; project delays or unfinished projects, etc.
As for how the suffering master bought a home?
According to the study, 93% of the complaint cases were traded in Hong Kong, 75% were informed of overseas property projects from local newspaper advertisements, and 70% had participated in trade fairs or seminars organized by agents; the authorities found that Hong Kong consumers suffered an average loss after counting the cases. 368,000 Hong Kong dollars, the average value of the properties involved is about 1.8 million Hong Kong dollars.
In addition, law enforcement agencies and regulatory agencies have received many complaints related to overseas property sales. Among them, the Customs received 58 complaints last year, a sharp increase of nearly five times compared with the previous year, and the relevant complaints received by the Estate Agents Authority last year also increased by 10 Times, up to 66 cases.
The complaints mainly involved Thailand, the Mainland, the United Kingdom and Australia.
(Provided by Consumer Council)
The Consumer Council reviewed the advertisements for overseas property sales and found that real estate agents accounted for the majority of print and online advertisements, with a space of 80%, and over 70% of advertisements were non-licensed or involved non-licensed salespersons. The Consumer Council found that There are three main problems with related advertisements, including bait with dubious claims, exaggerated information/unclear information, vague and unlicensed statements, and even lack of information.
The Mystery Shopper found that the real estate agent had unscrupulous business practices, including insufficient or voluntary disclosure of the relationship and commissions between the agent and the seller, not reminding customers to pay attention to the disclaimer, and not providing warnings about the risks of purchasing overseas properties. Or suggest, obtain independent opinions, including implying that false tax declarations can be made.
(Provided by Consumer Council)
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