www.shaproperty.com: Housing agency shuts down overnight

A HOUSING agency boasting 1,000 agents and seven offices across the island has closed suddenly, leaving its agents demanding thousands of dollars in unpaid commissions.

Phone lines at the offices of CHR Realty, a licensed agency that has been operating for eight years, have been disconnected, its offices shuttered and its management, gone. Some of the company's trainees have also been left in the lurch after paying fees to attend the company's courses.

According to agents, the first signs of trouble appeared two months ago when they had problems getting the company to pay their commissions.

Five agents told The Sunday Times they had been waiting more than a month for sums ranging from $700 to more than $20,000. All of them said they knew many others were caught in the same predicament.

On Thursday, alarm bells began ringing when the company was spotted selling the furniture from one of its branches at the Toa Payoh HDB Hub.

Agencies typically require an agent's client - whether a buyer or seller - to make a cheque out to the company when paying commission.

The agency then takes its cut of this commission, usually between 10 per cent and 30 per cent, and then pays the agent the balance. The agency takes the cut in exchange for giving the agent the use of its offices, phone lines and computers.

CHR, whose agents handled both private and HDB properties, had made a name for itself in the industry over the past year by offering new agents a bargain 'agency cut' of 5 per cent, or even less.

The managing director of C&H Realty, Mr Albert Lu, said: 'A lot of agents were attracted to this. But it seemed to me at that time that something like this could not last long because an agency can have very heavy costs.'

One CHR agent, 34-year-old Mr Mike Lim, said he is still owed $5,600 for the commission on a flat he sold last December. 'I handed the cheque over to CHR in February and the company gave me a receipt for it. It was supposed to pay me one week after that but I didn't get anything,' he said.

Mr Lim said he had tried calling the agency's CEO Shawn Lim and executive director Yvonne Tang for several weeks, but they never responded. Last month, he made a police report.

Several attempts by The Sunday Times to reach Mr Shawn Lim and Ms Tang were unsuccessful. CHR's head office in Peck Seah Street in the Central Business District was also found abandoned, with a sign advertising the space for rent.

The company also has addresses in Bugis, Hougang, Jurong East, Tampines and Yishun. The Jurong East office apparently shut two weeks ago.

One of CHR's trainee agents, who wanted to be known only as Julie, said she had paid $100 for a three-month course at the branch and got to attend only one lesson, on April 11. When she turned up for her second lesson on April 13, the office was closed.

'I just want to complete my lessons and start working as an agent. Now I don't know who to turn to,' she said.

Another agent, 32-year-old Mr Joseph Chew, said that on March 15, after much persuasion, he had managed to get Mr Shawn Lim to issue him a cheque for the $1,440 that was owed to him.

'He gave me a cheque post-dated to March 30. Five days after I banked it, the bank called me to say that it had bounced. I haven't been able to reach Shawn after that,' he said.

Mr Mike Lim said he and a few other agents are now considering legal action.

As late as Friday, Mr Shawn Lim was apparently trying to buy himself time. He called one agent, who had left a message on his phone threatening to expose him.

'He begged me to give him more time and said he was still trying to raise the money. And he said he was the victim because many people still owe him money,' claimed the agent, who declined to be named.

Company secretary Chong Hok, 65, told The Sunday Times that the company's other director, Mr Shin Tai Tim, called him two weeks ago to say he wanted to resign.

www.shaproperty.com

Monday, April 24, 2006

Housing agency shuts down overnight

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