EAQE study notes
One note per topic: the must-know facts with their sources, the rules in plain English, worked examples and the traps that cost marks. The must-know list, the opening sections and the traps of every note are free; Premium opens the rest.
This page is for the EAQE · Estate Agents Qualifying Examination
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Agency management and supervision
Part I · Stand-alone questions · 9 min
18 notes, about 3 hours of reading. Start here and work down the list.
Part I · Stand-alone questions
13 notes- Agency management and supervision9 min · What an estate agent must put in place to run an agency lawfully: vicarious liability, office managers and section 15 supervision systems, licensing and interest declarations, property information and clients' money, personal data, anti-money laundering, debt collection, company, partnership and employment law, and complaints. Part 8 is EAQE-only and tested at Level 4, usually as a manager deciding what the firm must do.
- Estate agency agreements and prescribed forms9 min · The six forms prescribed by the Practice Regulation, when each estate agency agreement must be signed, what Forms 3 to 6 contain (validity period, exclusive or non-exclusive agency, single, dual or potentially dual agency, commission and interests), the copy rules in ss.47 and 48, and the Property and Leasing Information Forms. Under s.45 a missing or defective agreement costs the agency its commission, so the EAQE tests these rules from the agency's side.
- Buildings, planning and building management9 min · The three layers that control what can be built and how a property may be used: the Government lease, town planning, and building control. Then redevelopment arithmetic, and how a building is run under its DMC and the Building Management Ordinance. The EAQE adds the Town Planning Ordinance, building standards and redevelopment, which the SQE leaves out.
- Conveyancing, mortgages and property tax9 min · What happens between the provisional agreement and registration of the assignment, how mortgages and bank lending limits work, and the five property taxes: stamp duty, Government rent, rates, property tax and profits tax. EAQE syllabus 3.8 to 3.10 is tested at Level 2, but these numbers also drive Part II case questions on deposits, loans and duty, all worked by hand.
- The EAA, licensing and business particulars10 min · How the Estate Agents Authority is made up and what it does, which licence each role in an agency needs, the licensing requirements for individuals, partnerships and companies, the Statement of Particulars of Business, and the rules on the register, renewal, conditions, suspension and revocation. Syllabus 2.1 to 2.3.8 is at Level 4 in the EAQE, so expect scenarios in which you are the person setting up or running the agency.
- Estate agents' duties, discipline and commission disputes10 min · The statutory duties the Estate Agents Ordinance places on estate agents (information, offers, interests, accounts, effective control of offices, prohibited employment, notices, directors' liability, client money and advertising), the path from complaint to sanction, appeals, the s.55 offences, and how the EAA determines commission disputes. In the EAQE this is Level 4 and is set from the side of the agency owner, director or branch manager.
- Code of Ethics, Practice Regulation and Practice Circulars9 min · The EAA's Code of Ethics, the conduct rules in the Practice Regulation from first contact to commission, and the Practice Circulars the exam quotes, including the EAQE-only duties of effective control of offices and compliance by partnerships. Syllabus 2.4 to 2.6 is at Level 4, so expect scenarios in which you judge whether a licensee, or the agency supervising him, is in breach.
- Land search and property information9 min · How Hong Kong's deeds registration system decides priority, what each part of a land register tells you, which entries threaten a deal, and when you also need a company search, an RVD search or a lawyer. EAQE syllabus 4.1 to 4.3 is tested at Level 4 (understanding plus use in practice), the highest level, and land search records are a favourite Part II exhibit.
- Law of agency, contract and negligence10 min · The sources of Hong Kong law, how an agency is created, what an agent owes the principal and how the agency ends, how contracts for land are formed and enforced, the remedies for breach and misrepresentation, and liability in negligence and for negligent statements. Syllabus 3.1 to 3.6 is at Level 2: questions test concepts, but almost always through an estate agency scenario.
- Property ordinances and first-hand sales10 min · The other ordinances an estate agent works under: the Conveyancing and Property, Land Registration (including priority, tested only in the EAQE), Housing, Personal Data (Privacy), Unconscionable Contracts, Prevention of Bribery and Misrepresentation Ordinances, and the Residential Properties (First-hand Sales) Ordinance. Syllabus 3.7 names the exact sections, so questions are precise: a time limit, a percentage, a penalty or a priority date.
- Leasing and tenancy9 min · How tenancies are created and classified, the stamp duty and Form CR109 rules, the parties' rights and obligations, how a tenancy ends, and the special regimes for subdivided units under Part IVA of Cap. 7 and the Basic Housing Units Ordinance. The EAQE tests leasing at Level 4, so expect applied questions and Part II leasing cases, not just definitions.
- The estate agency trade in Hong Kong9 min · How Hong Kong's property market and estate agency trade developed, what moves property prices, where agents get market and property information, and why the Estate Agents Ordinance was passed. Syllabus Part 1 is tested at Level 2 in the EAQE: expect recall questions on dates, sources and price factors, often set as a branch manager briefing new staff.
- Property valuation8 min · What valuers mean by market value and its relatives, the five valuation methods and when each is used, how to value a development site, which market indicators agents watch, and how auctions, tenders and valuation reports work. Valuation is EAQE-only (syllabus Part 6, Level 1): expect definitions plus short hand calculations of capital value, yield and residual land value.
Part II · Land search & case studies
5 notes- Case studies: running an agency6 min · Agency-management cases put you in the office of a director or branch manager: a salesperson has misbehaved, a client has complained, data has leaked, a suspicious buyer has appeared or commission is unpaid. The questions ask who is liable, under which rule, what the firm must do next and by when. This guide gives a three-layer liability method, a deadline table and the commission-dispute procedure.
- Case studies: first-hand sales6 min · First-sale cases test the Residential Properties (First-hand Sales) Ordinance (Cap. 621) timetable and the EAA circulars on conduct at sales sites, from the point of view of the agency that runs the team: who may be deployed, who commands them, what must be filed with the EAA, and what each salesperson may say and take. Most marks come from dates, documents and banned conduct.
- Case studies: land searches7 min · EAQE Part II gives you one or two case studies and 20 linked questions, and a land search record is a common exhibit. You need 24 of the 40 Part II marks as well as 36 of 60 in Part I. This guide sets out a reading routine and a manager-level checklist for company owners, non-residential property, priority and charges that rank ahead of the bank.
- Case studies: leasing6 min · Leasing cases combine estate agency rules (Forms 2, 5 and 6, land searches, client money, advertising) with tenancy law (stamp duty, Form CR109, forfeiture, mortgagee consent) and, for subdivided units, Part IVA of Cap. 7 and the Basic Housing Units Ordinance. EAQE cases often involve shops, offices or company landlords, where the residential forms drop away but the tenancy law and circulars do not.
- Case studies: sales and conveyancing6 min · Sale cases follow one property from listing to completion and test the forms, information duties, offers, deposits, stamp duty, commission and AML rules against a single set of facts. At EAQE level the property may be a shop or office, the vendor a company, and the agency may act for both sides, so you must know which rules switch off for non-residential property and which apply to everything.
Studying for the SQE? 17 SQE study notes
- Law of agency, contract and negligence
- Estate agency agreements and prescribed forms
- Buildings, Government leases and building management
- Code of Ethics
- Conveyancing, mortgages and property tax
- The EAA and licensing
- Statutory duties, discipline and offences
- First-hand residential sales (Cap. 621)
- Land search and property information
- Practice Regulation and Practice Circulars
- Other ordinances in agency practice
- Leasing and tenancy
- The estate agency trade in Hong Kong
- Case studies: first-hand sales
- Case studies: land searches
- Case studies: leasing
- Case studies: second-hand sales
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