Statutory duties, discipline and offences

This topic gives you a lot of Part I marks for pure memory. The examiners like three kinds of question: which duties fall on a salesperson as opposed to the estate agent; date questions (when is a Form 9 or an appeal due); and lists of sanctions or offences where one option is not a real power.

Keep two systems apart. Discipline (s.30) is run by the Estate Agents Authority (EAA) and ends in a reprimand, fine, suspension or revocation. Offences (s.55) are crimes tried in court and can end in a fine and imprisonment. The EAA cannot send anyone to prison.

An estate agent acting on Hong Kong residential property must, under s.36(1)(a): obtain and hold the prescribed information (the Property Information Form, Form 1, or Leasing Information Form, Form 2), be reasonably satisfied it is accurate, and supply it to the client; (v) tell a vendor client of every offer until expressly told otherwise; (vi) disclose full particulars of any pecuniary or other beneficial interest in the property and any benefit it will gain on the sale; and (vii) if acting for both sides, tell both, and pass one client's property information to the other on request unless expressly told not to.

Under s.36(3) a salesperson carries only duties (v), (vi) and (vii). The information-holding duties stay with the estate agent. A manager appointed under s.38 who handles the property carries all of them.

A client who suffers loss from a breach can sue (s.36(4)). The due diligence defence in s.36(5) needs all three: reliance on a prescribed source (Land Registry, Rating and Valuation Department or Buildings Department), reasonable reliance, and all steps reasonably open taken. Neither the agent nor the vendor warrants the Vendor's Statement (s.36(7)).