Singapore: what a property agent may say in an advert, and how to check

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Kooky

Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.

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A property advertisement is usually the first thing a buyer or a tenant reads about a home, and often the first thing they read about the person selling or letting it. In Singapore that advertisement is not free text. The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA), the statutory body that licenses property agencies and registers their salespersons, sets what an advertisement must show, what it may claim and how it may be sent.

This guide sets out those rules as CEA's own documents state them: the details every advertisement must carry, the owner's consent that comes before it, the standard of accuracy for words, photographs and prices, the rules for flyers, text messages, calls and email, and the check CEA describes for anyone reading a listing. It describes the general rules. How they apply to one advertisement depends on its facts, and CEA is the body that decides.

CEA Practice Guidelines on Ethical Advertising, Version 2.0 of 10 December 2020; Estate Agents Act 2010, section 52(12), version in force from 1 July 2025.

Where the rules are written

Three layers of text carry the rules, and it helps to know which is which.

The first is the Estate Agents Act 2010. In its vocabulary an "estate agent" is the business, the property agency that holds a licence, and a "salesperson" is the individual registered to work for it. CEA's pages for the public use the everyday words "property agency" and "property agent" for the same two things. This guide uses the Act's words when it describes a rule and the everyday words when it describes what a reader sees.

The second layer is the Estate Agents (Estate Agency Work) Regulations 2010, read here in the consolidation CEA publishes as the version in force from 1 January 2026. The regulations contain two codes. The Code of Ethics and Professional Client Care, in the First Schedule, binds every licensed estate agent and every registered salesperson. The Code of Practice for Estate Agents, in the Second Schedule, binds the licensed estate agent. Paragraph 12 of the first code is headed "Duties in respect of advertisements" and is the core of everything that follows.

The third layer is CEA's Practice Guidelines on Ethical Advertising, numbered PG 2/2011. According to the document itself, the guidelines were issued on 29 June 2011, took effect on 1 August 2011 and stand at Version 2.0, dated 10 December 2020. They are read together with paragraph 12 of the code, which they reproduce as an annex, and they turn its short duties into practical dos and don'ts with examples.

The Act, in the consolidation CEA publishes as the version in force from 1 July 2025, supplies the sanctions and, in section 36, the public register.

What counts as an advertisement

The guidelines define the word widely. An advertisement, in CEA's guidelines, covers print (publications, newspaper classifieds, pamphlets and flyers), websites and online advertisements, text messages and social media. Paragraph 7 of the guidelines adds that every advertising rule applies online as it does on paper.

The code reaches further than listings. Paragraph 12(1) requires estate agents and salespersons to be correctly and clearly identified in all their advertisements and promotional materials, and also in their correspondence, email signatures, letterheads and name cards. Paragraph 12(4) then applies its list of duties to "any form of advertising", cards included.

Responsibility is shared between the individual and the agency. The salesperson answers for the advertisement under the Code of Ethics. The agency has a duty of its own: paragraph 4(3) of the Code of Practice says estate agents shall vet all publicity and advertising materials of their salespersons before publication. Paragraph 5 of the guidelines describes how that works inside an agency: the key executive officer, the person the guidelines make answerable for salespersons' advertisements, either approves every advertisement or runs a structured approval process before anything goes live, internet content included.

The details every advert must carry

The first duty is identification. Paragraph 12(2) of the code requires the name and contact number of the estate agent and salesperson as registered with the Council, and their licence and registration numbers, to be stated correctly and clearly. Paragraph 2 of the guidelines sets out what that means for each medium, and the requirement is not the same everywhere.

Two points of detail are worth knowing. The guidelines prescribe how the numbers are labelled: "Estate Agent Licence Number" and "Salesperson Registration Number", each followed by the number, with "CEA Licence Number" and "CEA Registration Number" accepted as alternatives. And the name is the registered one. On a flyer or an online advertisement it appears as it does on the Public Register, which may be a personal name or a business name.

Classified advertisements are the exception because space is short. There the guidelines allow a recognisable short form, and give examples of a long registered name reduced to a first name and surname or to a surname and initials. They also describe adding the agency's acronym as good practice. The contact number, though, is always the registered one, on every medium. That single fact is what the public check described later in this guide relies on.

Consent comes before the advert

Before any wording is chosen, the code asks a prior question: has the client agreed? Paragraph 12(4)(d) requires the prior agreement of the client before advertising any property of the client for any purpose, sale or rental included.

Paragraph 1 of the guidelines develops the duty in four directions.

• The owner. The owner's prior consent is required before a property is advertised for sale or rent.
• Several owners. Where a property has more than one owner, the salesperson identifies all the rightful owners and obtains the consent of each, in writing, by text message or by another verifiable method.
• Sublets. For a sublet, the salesperson confirms that the owner has consented to subletting, or that the tenant or sub-landlord is entitled to sublet.
• Several salespersons. If two or more salespersons advertise the same property, each of them obtains the owner's consent. One salesperson's consent does not cover another's advertisement.

For a buyer or a tenant this explains why the same flat may appear under several names: the guidelines permit it, provided each of those salespersons holds the owner's consent.

The consent covers the terms as well as the fact of advertising. Paragraph 12(4)(e) of the code says a property must not be advertised at a price or on other terms, or in any manner, different from those the client instructed.

Accuracy: claims, promotions and returns

The central rule is paragraph 12(4)(a) of the code. Estate agents and salespersons must not cause or allow to be made any advertisement containing an offer, proposal, statement, representation, claim or information that is inaccurate, false or misleading. Two verbs carry the weight: causing an advertisement and allowing one. The duty therefore covers an advertisement a salesperson lets appear, and not only one written personally.

Paragraph 3.1 of the guidelines repeats the rule and attaches specific duties to the kinds of claim that most often go wrong.

Promotions and guarantees. Where an advertisement offers a promotion or a guarantee, all its underlying terms are disclosed at the outset, and reasonable steps are taken to verify that they are accurate.

Returns, yields and capital gains. An advertisement that states a return, a yield or a capital gain discloses the basis of the figure and a credible source, defines the terms it uses and, where it rests on past data, gives the period the data covers. A bare percentage with no basis and no period does not meet that description.

Small print. Terms, footnotes and disclaimers are printed in at least font size 8. The guidelines take that minimum from section 17.1 of the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice.

Market claims. Statements about market trends or economic forecasts are backed by reliable sources, and the guidelines give government agency reports as the example.

Claims about the salesperson are treated like claims about the property. Paragraph 12(4)(c) of the code requires any claim of expertise, specialisation or success rate to be capable of being substantiated by verifiable facts and records. Paragraph 3.3 of the guidelines names the wording to avoid: titles of the "King of" an area or "Mr" an area kind, and the words "Specialist" and "Expert".

Advertising an agency's services falls under the same standard. Paragraph 3.9 gives the example of a salesperson who knows that industrial units may come up for rent: the advertisement cannot announce ready units for rental unless the owner has confirmed that units are available.

Photographs, descriptions and approved use

Paragraph 12(4)(b) of the code requires all materials that advertise or promote a property to describe it accurately. Paragraph 3.2 of the guidelines applies that to pictures first.

Photographs must not be altered or enhanced in a way that misrepresents the property, and photographs of another property must not be used. Interior photographs show the actual unit in its actual condition: not a similar unit in the same block, and not the same unit in a different state. Exterior views are taken from the unit advertised, and the guidelines give the example of a low-floor unit, which may not be shown with the view from the top floor. Where a photograph is only illustrative, it carries a qualifier saying so.

The description of use is regulated as closely as the pictures. A property is advertised only for the use approved by the Urban Redevelopment Authority or the competent authority. The guidelines say a mixed-use unit is either commercial or residential, not both at once, and that industrial units zoned Business 1 or Business 2 must not be marketed as "business" space or as "offices".

Price, terms and the wording that is ruled out

Under paragraph 3.4 of the guidelines, an advertisement follows the client's instructions on price. It states the expected selling price or a range, or it uses wording the client has approved, and the guidelines give "view to offer" and "price negotiable" as examples.

Two price practices are excluded. A price must not be represented solely by a cash-over-valuation figure, the amount asked above a valuation. And a sale above valuation must not be guaranteed, in those words or as a guarantee of any cash-over-valuation amount.

The guidelines go on to rule out several other kinds of wording, each for its own reason.

The co-broking rule needs a word of explanation. Co-broking, as paragraph 3.7 defines it, is the involvement of two or more agents in one transaction, typically one acting for each side. The guidelines treat it as a matter for negotiation with the client and ask salespersons to act ethically and fairly towards one another. They class the excluded phrases with any wording against the client's interests.

The rule on circumventing laws is illustrated in paragraph 3.5 with two examples from public housing: offering to help sell a new flat before its minimum occupation period has run, and offering to "appeal" to the Housing and Development Board over rental flats.

Stale, dummy and copied adverts

An advertisement has a lifespan under the rules. Paragraph 12(4) of the code ends with the duty to remove an advertisement once the property is no longer available or the agency agreement has ended. Paragraph 3.6 of the guidelines sets the timing: as soon as practicable after the property becomes unavailable or the agency agreement ends, whichever is earlier.

Printed material has its own safeguard. Pamphlets and flyers carry their date of issue and are updated and reprinted promptly when the information changes, so a reader holding one can tell how old it is. Online, paragraph 7.2 asks for listings to be kept current, with expired ones removed and changed details updated immediately or as soon as practicable.

Three practices are prohibited outright.

Dummy advertisements. Paragraph 3.8 bars advertising a property without the owner's consent, or one that is no longer available, in order to collect leads or price information. Only real properties with consent are advertised.

Copied advertisements. Paragraph 3.10 bars copying another agent's advertisement. The example given is a newspaper listing reproduced on a portal under a different name to attract enquirers, who are then passed to the original agent.

Other people's transactions. Paragraph 12(4)(f) of the code keeps transaction information about a specific property out of advertisements unless every party to the transaction has consented in writing. That covers the names of the parties, the sale price, the rent and the other terms, and it applies whether or not the advertiser took part in the deal. Paragraph 6 of the guidelines adds that floor levels and unit addresses of transacted properties are not disclosed in advertisements, that unit-level address and price data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority's REALIS service and from portals is for personal research and not for marketing, and that free public data is used on its own terms, with the source cited in the advertisement.

How adverts may reach people

Paragraph 4 of the guidelines regulates how advertising is delivered.

Flyers and signs. Flyers are delivered so that they are not visible to anyone but the intended recipient; the guidelines' stated concern is the pile that builds up when an owner is away. They are not to be left on vehicles, which the guidelines treat as littering. Distribution inside private property, condominiums in particular, needs approval first. Roadside signs need the approval of the Land Transport Authority, and the Building and Construction Authority licence number appears on the front of each sign.

Text messages and calls. No advertising text messages are sent and no cold calls are made between 10pm and 9am, a window of 11 hours each night. Every advertising text carries the registered name and contact number and a number to which the recipient can text to unsubscribe, in line with the Spam Control Act, and nothing further is sent to a person who has unsubscribed. A salesperson stops at once when a recipient opts out of calls or messages.

Email. An advertising email states the names, the estate agent's licence number and the salesperson's registration number. Its subject line begins with <ADV> followed by a space, so that it can be recognised before it is opened, and where there is no subject line the opening words make the nature of the message clear. It offers a way to unsubscribe. It is not sent to addresses gathered by dictionary attack or address harvesting, which the guidelines tie to section 9 of the Spam Control Act.

Talks and seminars. Paragraph 4.4 deals with speakers. Nobody may market or sell a specific project, with its prices or details, at a general market talk unless licensed, registered or exempt. The guidelines state that an unlicensed speaker who does so contravenes the Estate Agents Act and may be prosecuted.

How to check a listing

The rules above are written for the trade, but they hand the reader a checklist. CEA's page on checking whether a property agent is registered, last updated on 4 September 2026, describes the method, and it starts with the phone number.

If a search by phone number does not lead to an agent's profile, the number is not registered with CEA. The page says that is "likely a scam", and it says so even where the name and registration number in the advertisement do exist on the register.

According to the same page, the transactions shown are the residential ones the agent facilitated in the last two years, with the party represented in each. Each agent has a unique registration number, and CEA's example of the format is R123456A. Agents are registered through a licensed property agency, and the page states that carrying out estate agency work without a valid registration is an offence.

Consider a worked example, with invented details and no real listing behind it. Assume a portal advertisement for a resale flat that shows a name, a registration number, a mobile number, an agency name with its licence number, interior photographs, a line stating a rental yield as a percentage, and the words "no agents".

Step by step, the rules give the following reading. The identification is complete for an online advertisement: all five details of paragraph 2.1 are present. Whether they are genuine is settled by the register search on the mobile number. The photographs are, under paragraph 3.2, meant to show that unit as it is, and nothing in the advertisement labels them as illustrative. The yield line falls short of paragraph 3.1 as it stands, because it gives no basis, no source and no period. And "no agents" is one of the phrases paragraph 3.7 says must not be used. The reading says nothing about the flat itself, only about how the advertisement measures against the guidelines.

When the rules are not followed

The guidelines say that strict compliance is required and that non-compliance may result in disciplinary action. The regulations say the same of the two codes: a breach may lead to disciplinary action before a Disciplinary Committee formed under the Act, and the sanctions they list include financial penalties, demerit points and the suspension or revocation of a licence or registration.

The ceiling is in the Act. Under section 52(12), a Disciplinary Committee that finds sufficient cause may impose a financial penalty of up to S$100,000 on a registered salesperson and up to S$200,000 on a licensed estate agent, so the agency's ceiling is twice the individual's. Under section 52(3) it may also suspend or revoke the licence or registration, with or without a financial penalty. These are maximums; what is imposed in a given matter depends on its facts.

Advertising by people outside the system is a different matter, dealt with as an offence and not as discipline. Section 28 of the Act bars a person from carrying on business, advertising or acting as an estate agent without a licence, with a fine of up to S$75,000, imprisonment of up to three years, or both. Section 29 bars acting or holding oneself out as a salesperson without registration, with a fine of up to S$25,000, imprisonment of up to 12 months, or both.

Some related texts sit outside this guide. CEA's index of practice guidelines and circulars lists three circulars that touch advertising: PC 07-18 of 19 October 2018 on Type A advertisement infringements, PC 02-14 of 5 March 2014 on floor-area information for new developments, and PC 02-15 of 19 May 2015 on conveying accurate transaction prices and developer benefits. Their detail is not covered here. Nor is the question of what a seller must disclose about a property's condition, which the advertising rules do not address: they govern what the agent says in public, not what the contract between buyer and seller provides.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

About Kooky and Shaka →