From 1 Oct 2019 onwards, KEOs, practising directors/partners, and salespersons are required to fulfil a total of six credits under the new CPD framework, of which four (4) of these credits must be from courses related to Professional Competencies and two (2) credits must be from courses related to Generic Competencies.

You will be required to attend CPD courses under Generic Competencies to fulfil the CPD requirements. Credits under Generic Competencies cannot be substituted by credits obtained under Professional Competencies. This is to ensure that salespersons also focus on developing their competencies in other essential areas not directly related to their professional knowledge, such as service, leadership, and digital literacy.

The Council for Estate Agencies encourages salespersons to attend a mix of training courses on different subject matters for diversified learning. Unless there are significant policy changes during the same CPD cycle, repeated attendance records of salespersons who attend Professional Competency courses under the same topic by the same trainer or provider more than once within the same CPD cycle will not be counted towards the CPD requirements.

For CPD courses under Professional Competencies, the course providers will update your attendance in the My CPD Portal.

For Generic Competencies, please seek your KEO’s approval to ensure that the course is in line with CEA’s requirements before attending the course. Upon your KEO’s approval, you may attend the course and submit your attendance through the My CPD Portal or submit a copy of the course certificate/email of attendance to your estate agent. Your KEO and his/her authorised users will approve and update your attendance in the Portal. This arrangement remains the same under the new CPD framework that took effect from 1 October 2019.

For Professional Competency CPD courses, please check with the course provider whether they have updated your attendance in the My CPD Portal.

For Generic Competency CPD courses, please seek your KEO’s approval to ensure that the course is in line with CEA’s requirements before attending the course. Upon your KEO’s approval, you may attend the course, and submit your attendance through the My CPD Portal or submit a copy of the course certificate/email of attendance to your estate agent. Your KEO and his/her authorised users will approve and update your attendance in the Portal.

If this has been done, but your records are still not reflected in the Portal, you may send the following details to feedback@cea.gov.sg for our verification:

a) CPD course name/title (in full)

b) Course provider

c) Date/s the course was taken

d) Scanned copy of the course certificate

CEA will verify the details provided and may check with you for clarifications, before updating your CPD records in the Portal accordingly. The updating may take one to two weeks upon submission of complete information.

You may check your CPD fulfillment status via CEA's My CPD Portal.

Salespersons are not allowed to carry forward excess CPD credits to the following year i.e the next CPD cycle. The objective of the CPD scheme is to ensure that salespersons equip themselves with professional knowledge that is current and relevant.

Salespersons should check with their KEOs who will assess the relevance of courses undertaken by their salespersons and ensure that their CPD credits for Generic Competencies are in line with CEA's requirements.

For Professional Competency courses that former KEOs, practising directors/partners, and salespersons have completed, they should check if the course providers have updated their CPD records in CEA’s My CPD Portal.

For Generic Competency courses, a former salesperson has to do the following:

• Obtain approval for Generic Competency course and credits from the KEO of the estate agent he/she is joining;
• Submit the KEO’s approval and the certificates of the Generic Competency courses as part of the supporting documents in the salesperson application forms; and
• Once the application for registration to be a salesperson has been approved by CEA, the salesperson is required to submit their Generic Competency courses to their estate agent via My CPD Portal for his KEO’s approval.

The salesperson's CPD records in CEA's system will be transferred to the new estate agent that the salesperson switches to. 

A maximum of two CPD credits per day for a full day Generic Competency course may be awarded. For illustration purpose, a 3-day Generic Competency course can be awarded with six Generic Competency CPD credits. The actual CPD credits awarded may differ depending on the contents and duration of the course.

The Council for Estate Agencies envisions that the salesperson of the future to be a professional individual who possesses the qualities of a trusted adviser.

The new CPD framework provides a more structured approach to guide salespersons towards achieving deeper technical knowledge and skillsets to perform duties in different segments of the property market. It aims to further support salespersons in deepening their knowledge and broadening their competencies.

To ensure that salespersons remain competitive and relevant in the changing environment, one of the goals is to equip salespersons with skills to handle digitalised processes.

Each CPD cycle spans one year, from 1 Oct in the current year to 30 Sep of the following year.

New salespersons are exempted from the CPD requirements for the first CPD cycle but will need to comply with the CPD requirement for the next and subsequent CPD cycles.

For example, if a salesperson was first registered with CEA on 1 Dec 2019, he will be exempted from the 1 Oct 2019 to 30 September 2020 CPD cycle. He will be required to fulfil the CPD requirements from 1 Oct 2020 onwards.

Candidates may submit their qualifications (e.g. overseas qualifications, private diplomas) to CEA for assessment through the  Approved Course Providers (ACPs) they intend to enroll with for the Real Estate Salesperson course.

Candidates must fill up the CEA Educational Qualification Assessment Request Form, and attach all supporting documents. Candidates must also produce the original documents to ACPs for verification.

CEA will inform the candidate of the outcome of qualification assessment via email. CEA will take approximately four weeks to process the application. An administrative fee is payable to CEA through the ACPs for each application.

Qualifications assessed to be accepted in lieu of 4 GCE "O" Level passes are valid for 3 years from the date of CEA's notification of the acceptance. The validity applies for the following:

1) Real Estate Salesperson (RES) and Real Estate Agency (REA) course registration

2) RES and REA examination registration

3) RES, Key Executive Officer, and Practicing Director registration applications

When the 3-year period lapses, candidates will need to submit a fresh application to CEA for assessment.

For more information, refer to the Apply for the Real Estate Salesperson Course webpage.

*Under the Estate Agents Act, estate agents refer to estate agency businesses (sole proprietors, partnerships and companies). Such businesses are commonly known as property agencies. Salespersons refer to individuals who perform estate agency work. They are commonly known as property agents.

The minimum educational requirement of 4 GCE "O" level passes ensures that individuals have the basic competency level to act as real estate salespersons*.

Individuals who are unable to meet this criterion must take the Workplace Literacy and Numeracy (WPLN) assessment administered by the British Council.

CEA recognises the WPLN (Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing and Numeracy) Level 5 in lieu of four GCE "O" level passes. Refer to details of the assessment.

Individuals must also take the Real Estate Salesperson (RES) course, pass the RES examination, and fulfill all other registration criteria before they can register with CEA to be a salesperson.

*Under the Estate Agents Act, estate agents refer to estate agency businesses (sole proprietors, partnerships and companies). Such businesses are commonly known as property agencies. Salespersons refer to individuals who perform estate agency work. They are commonly known as property agents.

Refer to CEA's list of recognised and equivalent qualifications.

If you have misplaced your Real Estate Salesperson (RES) examination certificate, you can approach the RES appointed examination administrator to request a letter to certify your RES examination result. You will not receive a replacement examination certificate.

If you have misplaced your RES course completion certificate, please contact your course provider for a replacement.

For ex-salesperson who wish to re-register or salespersons who wish to switch between estate agents, you do not need to provide your RES examination certificate and RES course completion certificate when you submit your salesperson registration application. 

Candidates who have taken the Real Estate Salesperson/Real Estate Agent examination will receive an email notification from CEA’s appointed examination administrator, SEAMEO Regional Language Centre (RELC), informing them of their results about four to six weeks after the examination.

Candidates who have passed the examination can expect to receive their certificates within two weeks of receiving their results. CEA’s appointed examination administrator, SEAMEO RELC, will inform candidates of the collection details.