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Council for Estate Agencies
Tools & Takeaways

Top Three CEA Resources that Should be on Every Property Consumer’s Radar

26 June 2026

A quick guide to three essential resources for property consumers on the CEA website.

hero image for CEAnergy article on top 3 CEA resources for property consumers

Jun 2026 – 3 min read


The CEA website has resources that property consumers may find very useful when transacting properties.

Here is a quick guide to three of them and how they can help you.

  1. CEA Public Register (opens in new tab): Verify a property agent’s details and track record

In Singapore, all property agents must be registered with CEA before they can facilitate property transactions. Their details and past transaction records can be found on the CEA Public Register.

To help consumers make better-informed decisions when engaging property agents and property agencies for their property transactions, CEA has added enhancements to the Public Register and CEA website on 10 June 2026. (opens in new tab)

These enhancements enable consumers to view:

  • A consolidated record of enforcement actions taken against property agencies and agents

  • Key enforcement statistics of the real estate agency industry

  • An enhanced profile page for property agencies showing details of enforcement actions taken against their agents.

Find out more details on how to check if your property agent is registered with CEA (opens in new tab) and what you need to take note of when engaging a property agent (opens in new tab).

Note: The CEA Public Register allows you to search in two categories, ‘salesperson’ and ‘estate agents’.

Here’s what they refer to:

  • 'Salespersons' refer to individuals who perform estate agency work. They are commonly known as property agents.

  • 'Estate agents' refer to estate agency businesses (sole proprietors, partnerships, and companies) who perform estate agency work. Estate agents are commonly known as property agencies.

  1. CEA's Rental Scams webpage (opens in new tab): Stay on top of the latest scam variants

Scammers continue to plague the rental market by impersonating bona fide property agents to put up online advertisements of properties for rent.

They use several methods to trick prospective tenants who are eager to rent a property, scamming the victims into making payments to either secure an appointment to view the property or to rent the property.

Their methods continue to evolve, so property consumers should continue to stay vigilant. One way to do so is to check CEA’s Rental Scams webpage (opens in new tab).

In addition, remember these tips:

  • Verify the identity of the property agent in the property listing – by using the phone number advertised or used by the individual to contact you, to perform a search on the CEA Public Register.

  • Do not make any payment before viewing the property. You are strongly advised to view the property with a CEA-registered agent in person to verify that it exists. Payment is not required to secure viewings or rental of a property.  All payments should also be made directly to the property owner and not the property agent, using verifiable modes of payment.

  1. Consumer’s Guide to Due Diligence Checks for the Prevention of Money Laundering, Proliferation Financing and Terrorism Financing (PMLPFTF) in Property Transactions (opens in new tab): Answers the burning questions that property consumers have about the PMLPFTF requirements

Before any agreement is signed to buy, sell or rent a property, you will be asked to show an official identification document, such as your NRIC or passport to the property agent.

This applies even if the property agent asking for your identification document is not engaged by you, as property agents are required to verify both parties in a transaction if one party is not represented by an agent. If each party has their own agent, each agent will conduct checks on their respective clients.

Why is there a need to do so?

(This is in fact one of the most popular questions that property consumers ask CEA, as shown in this CEAnergy article: Top Questions Posed by Property Consumers to CEA in 2026 (opens in new tab).)

The short answer is, your NRIC number or details from other government-issued identification document are among the information that a property agent is required to obtain and verify as part of their duty to carry out due diligence checks to prevent money laundering, proliferation financing, and terrorism financing.

In some transactions, property agents may also ask further questions about your source of funds or wealth.  These agents are not assessing your financial decisions or checking on your financial standing – they are simply confirming that the funds being used for the transaction are legitimate.

You can read more about the various PMLPFTF measures in CEA’s Consumer’s Guide.

Find out more details of PMLPFTF-related legislation on the CEA website. (opens in new tab)

Quick links:


Information accurate as at 26 June 2026