20181211 (Tue) Do you need to open an office when you operate an estate agency business?
The answer is YES. In fact, it is in Standard 1 of MEAS 2014. However, it is not necessarily so if you have activities away from the Office. At this time, there is no geographical requirement for estate agency to operate in designated areas/offices.
This is unlike in some countries.
When you compare this to a clinic, it is quite similar. A doctor operates a clinic. If there are patients from out of town, esp remote kampungs to take a bus down to see him, it is nothing wrong. He can do home visits to the kampung when he cares for his patients.
However, when he starts a branch clinic registered with the Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia in another location – the kampung, he has to send someone qualified there. The branch clinic should have a qualified doctor during opening hours.
This is the same with agency. When an agency operates in a geographical area, there can be various clients from all over the places (kampung) coming to this agency. When the salesperson (REN/PEA/REA) of this agency visit these clients, they are all over. So, an agency can cover a wide geographical area, even cross border to another city/township. However, if an agency were to have a branch office and operating it according to the hours and days, it has to get a registered estate agent called Resident Manager. This is specified in Standard 1 of MEAS 2014.
