Letter of censure framework (Less serious disciplinary breaches)

The Letter of Censure (LOC) disciplinary framework is one of the key amendments under the Estate Agents (Amendment) Act 2020, which was operationalised on 30 July 2021. Under this framework, the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) can issue LOCs and impose financial penalties of up to $5,000 per case against errant real estate salespersons (RESs) and estate agents (EAs) for less serious disciplinary breaches.

Following the operationalisation of the Anti-Money Laundering and Other Matters (Estate Agents and Developers) Act 2025 on 1 July 2025, the maximum financial penalties that CEA may impose for disciplinary breaches involving anti-money laundering, proliferation financing and terrorism financing were increased to $5,000 per breach. This will apply to breaches committed on or after 1 July 2025. The maximum financial penalty for other disciplinary breaches remains at $5,000 per case.

The LOC disciplinary framework will apply to disciplinary breaches which are assessed to be less serious. Where a breach is assessed to be serious, the matter will generally be referred to a CEA Disciplinary Committee (DC).

Some general key considerations in assessing whether a breach is less serious are:

• The breach resulted in no or low financial loss or consequence to the parties involved in the transaction

• The errant RES or EA had no or low wrongful gain

• The errant RES or EA was not dishonest, fraudulent, or had an intention to mislead.

The penalties under the LOC disciplinary framework will be imposed in a calibrated manner. We will take into consideration the severity of the disciplinary breach and/or whether the RES or EA has records of previous disciplinary breaches or offences. For example:

• Where the RES or EA commits a less serious breach and has no previous records, we will generally issue a Letter of Warning (LOW), unless the circumstances of the case warrant a more severe penalty under the LOC disciplinary framework

• If the RES or EA who had received a previous LOW commits another less serious breach, we may consider issuing a LOC, with or without imposing a financial penalty

• If the RES or EA continues to commit less serious breaches repeatedly, we may impose a higher financial penalty together with a LOC, or refer the case to a DC, depending on the number of repeated breaches committed and the facts and circumstances of the case

You may also refer to CEA’s Regulatory and Enforcement Guide which provides an overview on CEA’s regulatory framework, including the LOC disciplinary framework.

The LOC disciplinary framework will only apply to information or complaints received by CEA on or after 30 July 2021.

Additional information

You may refer to the following documents for additional information on the LOC disciplinary framework. 

• Detailed information about the LOC disciplinary framework (PDF, 102KB)

• Diagrammatic explanations to the LOC disciplinary framework (PDF, 199KB)

• Frequently asked questions on the LOC disciplinary framework (PDF, 220KB)