Recently I came across a new tactic agents are using to advertise their properties either For Sale or To Let. They place their signages or banners at houses or apartments which is not for sale. They choose houses or apartments which are located in very prominent locations, high traffic or busy areas. So, don't be surprised if a property with a big For Sale or To Let signage at its main gate is actually not for sale or to be rented out. The agent placed the advertisement there just to get attention and hopefully respond from potential buyer.  Is this against the law? Is this a new tactic or it has been used for a long time? Not sure if the agent paid the owner/tenant of the property to place the advertisement??

it's just like agent posting fake listing trying to lure buyers to call them ..

at less the banner without REN no or company name... that is illegal, if not we cannot do anything about it.

I think it's not even legal. Agents or anybody will need to get permission and approval from the owner first before hanging any banners on their property. The owner has every rights to remove the banner and report them.

Probably the tenant wants to make some extra money to subsidize his rental...owner cannot stop the tenant, right?

I guess most of these agents are just trying their luck. This is due to the competitive environment amongst themselves.

This can be a new source of income to property owners as well. Let's do a simple survey. 1. If u are an agent, would u pay to put up a "FOR SALE or TO LET" in a property in very prominent locations?? 2. For a 1 month duration & for a standard size banner, how much are u willing to pay the owner of the property for allowing u to put up the ad exclusively?

@ppnnkk2011, but for big time investors who are not bothered about small side income or owners who don't want to appoint many agents (maybe some who give exclusive to 1 agent only) might not like the idea.

If u rent an apartment for RM1200/mth and u rent to an agent an "advertising space" for RM100/mth, assuming yr apartment price is RM300K. yr gross rental will increase from 4.8% to 5.2%. Not bad lah.....

Wasting time and inappropriate approach.

Are the agents in the property market truly so desperate that they have to resort to such low tactics? I've seen stories like this one http://www.propsocial.my/topic/125/property-agent-who-removed-other-agents-signage-posted-by-magdelin

But if it's so desperate why are so many people still becoming agents?

Times are bad ... they have to do all the creative things to get clients....if u go in to Mudah, u can find a lot of fake listings also. Advertised property for sale at very attractive price or below market price but actually they have nothing to sell at that price... just to get contact of some potential buyer.

this advertised on front door is cheaper that mudah and here. as i know some agent even push a banner in his/her owner staying house. so friend u tell me how legal is this ?

As long as it is not illegal, everything can be done

PNK... illegal on which law ??? malaysia Govetment law , Majid Bandaraya Law or MIEA law ?? three a bit different

I didn't say it is illegal ...

Yes, it's probably not lawfully illegal. But it's still not ethical. It's the same as some passerby or your neighbour throwing rubbish in front of your house without your consent. At least get consent of the owner first.

sorry PNK for the mistake. i asking if want to follow dun no which law lo....hahaha

@ppnnkk2011 this is very subjective. But I do have a case of my own whereby I hang a banner on one of the condo, and then buyer signed the S&P the following week I took the banner down, due to some complications on the buyer getting his loan approved, the deal was aborted and I have to hang the banner up the other week, end ended up I receive phone call from some other agent scolding me why I keep on hanging the banner up and down on the same property.

I was totally speechless on that time as I do not feel like explaining to the other agent that was scolding me on the phone....

In fact, u don't need to explain to them. None of their business...

@ppnnkk2011 so end up I just put my phone on mute and continue my work while the agent is scolding... ahhahaha

Fake advertisement on property website also a lot nowadays. They advertise very low price, when u call they said they have a few units, the one with low price has been sold out.

We need more ethical property agents/negotiators.

lately many fake online properties.. 2-3 ads stated agent welcome but put a fake numbers (the same number).. when mentioned about the property the owner has no idea and he is never been to that property.. strange

Talking about illegal banner, would like to share this with everybody as well.

(number is being masked as i do not want to be in any trouble)

these so called Owner's Manager (are those Property Brokers which is not attached to any real estate agency) and the board is not taking any action on them since they are not agent in profession.

but many cases they are the one who spoil the reputation of "Agent" as well :)

Need clarification, is it an offence for a non-agent or non-negotiator to sell a property on behalf of their relatives?? No collection of booking or deposit on behalf, payment go direct to owner or lawyer appointed by owner.

@ppnnkk2011, I think this is very common, the fake advertisements. It's one of property agents' tactics in getting sales. They call it 'fishing'. Genuine buyers hate this. 

@imronaldsoo, but they are not legally allowed to sell any properties if they are not agent or owner, right? Does that mean the owner will pay them commission directly once the deal is sealed?

In Malaysia, laws pertaining to real estate are not fully enforced so I wouldn't knw if that is legal or not, but I am guessing not. However, it is for sure very unethical!

Especially with unregistered agents, they can use a fake name, unregistered number to make a banner and stick it up anywhere they want without a single trace leading to them.

The trend these days are, most units are bought by big time investors so they wouldn't really care about petty issues such as banners, as long as they get a tenant so they would allow any agents to put up their banners. Hence you see vacant units "decorated" with all sorts of colourful banners.

@jaishin_singh, I agree with you!

Too many rubbish on the streets. If i were the municipal council, i would sue the owners of all those numbers on the adverts. Its making the whole area looks damn fugly.

@Mag 

you are right, they are not illegal if they are not collecting commission.

but in actual fact broker collect 1% to 3% depending on the deal from the owner (very seldom i see broker find tenant / buyer for the owner not collecting money) 

i do sometimes refer cases to other agent without collecting or making any money, but to most broker, this is extra income (plus the income does not need to be shared with the real estate agency) 

@ppnnkk2011 for banners, even if i would need to hang in lamp post etc, i am required to apply permit from Mpkj with permit yes it is legal. hanging @ lamp post or tree without permit is illegal... (can be fined if they trace back to the person - normally via phone number) 

and also by hanging banner or any sort of advertising @ the owner's property, agent are required to get consent from the owner (authorization to rent / sell) without the consent and if i notice there is a banner or my property is being advertised on media, i reserve the rights to take legal action against the person who did it. 

@Mag 

Pertaining broker:

Yes owner can always provide "yum char" or angpao money to them if the deal is done that is not illegal. 

the case will arise on situation below:

1. Broker introduce tenant / buyer to the owner --> tenant/buyer paid deposit to the broker and they sign some sort of temporarily sales agreement / offer (disputes happened thereafter between owner or buyer) 

2. tenant / buyer paid deposit to broker --> broker took the money and disappear 

(as normally for proper agent, tenant/buyer would have to make the deposit payable to the Real Estate Agency / Realtor Account (not even collect cash, if cash, agent have to bring the buyer/tenant to the bank to have the money deposited to the real estate agency bank account) 

oh just to add on, more legal dispute... 

when one party suddenly terminate the contract half way and the other parties would require this matter to be resolved in court, the agent might need to be present in the court.

for case of broker, since they are unlicensed, the whole case will turn to extremely complicated

@imronaldsoo, yea but that also means the so called 'owner's manager' cannot handle the paperwork and collect cheque on behalf of owner. I guess that owner must have really trusted the 'owner's manager'. 

@Mag, trust me.... majority of the "owner's manager" have better persuasive power than a rookie REN not to mentioned their relationship with the owner...

even when something goes wrong, they still can twist and turn the story up and down, round and round.

Just an update from the association, AG had issue a circular to the police 2 weeks ago to ask them to investigate on property brokers (so called illegal managers)