Unit 3.4 Paper 2

Types of Listing for the RES Exam

Last reviewed 11 October 2026

Unit 3.4 looks small and is heavily examined, because almost every question reduces to one distinction: under this listing, does the owner owe commission when the owner finds the buyer? Get the three listing types straight, learn which of the eight prescribed forms goes with which appointment, and you will recognise most of what the paper asks. The scenarios are then built on top: two agencies with competing claims, an owner who signed twice, a co-broking agent who went round the listing agent.

Key points

Open listing: several agents allowed, only the effective cause is paid, and an owner who finds the buyer pays nothing.
Exclusive agency listing: one agent, but the owner may still sell personally without owing commission.
Exclusive right to sell (sole agency): commission is payable on any sale during the term, including one the owner arranges.
Forms 1 to 4 are non-exclusive and Forms 5 to 8 exclusive, in the order sale, purchase, lease by landlord, lease by tenant.
The prescribed forms cover all residential property including HDB and mixed-use; reg 11 excludes commercial, industrial, foreign, collective and developer sales.
Not using the applicable prescribed form affects the agent’s right to claim against the client under s 44 of the Estate Agents Act.
Additional terms go on pink paper and cannot conflict with the prescribed terms; for HDB deals, client ineligibility means no commission.
Signing a second agreement during an exclusive period does not cancel the first — the owner risks paying two commissions.
Co-broking terms must be confirmed in writing before the transaction closes, and soliciting a client under an exclusive agreement is prohibited.

Open (non-exclusive) listing

Under an open or non-exclusive listing the owner may appoint any number of estate agents at the same time, and may also market and sell the property personally. Commission is earned only by the agent who is the effective cause of the sale. An owner who finds the buyer through their own efforts, or through a relative, owes no agent anything, however many were appointed and however much they advertised. Nor does the owner pay every appointed agency; being first to be appointed, first to advertise or first to introduce the eventual buyer earns nothing on its own.

The trade-offs follow. The owner gets wide exposure through several competing agencies and keeps maximum flexibility. What the owner gives up is commitment: because no agent is assured of being paid, each has a weaker incentive to spend on advertising, brochures and viewings, and the property may appear in several inconsistent advertisements at different prices. Open listings also carry a real risk of competing claims, where two agencies each say they introduced the same buyer.

Two propositions regularly appear as wrong options. There is no rule requiring the owner to notify the existing agencies before appointing another, and none requiring the owner to pay each agency a marketing fee when the listing expires. Under CEA’s Practice Guidelines on Ethical Advertising, each salesperson who advertises the property must obtain their own consent from all the owners, so consent given to one agency does not carry over to another, and copied advertisements are prohibited because the copier has no consent.

Exclusive agency listing and exclusive right to sell

Both forms of exclusive listing appoint a single agency for an agreed period and exclude other agents. The difference lies in what happens when the owner finds the buyer.

Under an exclusive agency listing, the owner agrees not to appoint any other agent but retains the right to sell or let the property by their own efforts without paying commission. If the owner sells through another agent during the period, that is a breach of the exclusivity and the exclusive agent remains entitled to its commission.

Under an exclusive right to sell, often called a sole agency, the appointed agent is entitled to commission if the property is sold during the listing period, whoever finds the buyer, including the owner personally. A clause expressly stating that commission is payable even if the owner introduces the buyer is the marker that identifies the document as an exclusive right to sell rather than a mere exclusive agency.

There is no halfway house. Nothing in the law gives a half commission, converts an exclusive listing into an open one, or requires the agency to refund its marketing costs, and the entitlement always turns on the wording of the signed agreement. That is why the Code of Ethics obliges a salesperson to give the client time to read the agreement and explain its consequences before signing.

The advantages of exclusivity run the other way from an open listing: the owner deals with one accountable salesperson, advertising is coordinated so the unit does not appear at several different prices, and the agency, being more certain of being paid, has a stronger reason to commit time and money. Exclusivity does not guarantee a higher price, does not entitle the agency to set the price without the owner’s instructions, and does not permit dual representation, which regulation 5 of the Estate Agents (Estate Agency Work) Regulations 2010 prohibits even with the clients’ consent. Nor does it dilute the agency’s duties to market diligently, convey every offer promptly and act in the client’s interests. A net listing, under which the agent keeps whatever the price exceeds a figure set by the owner, is the right answer only where a question describes that excess-retention mechanism.

Open listing — many agents allowed; only the effective cause is paid; owner’s own sale attracts no commission
Exclusive agency listing — one agent only; owner may still sell personally without paying commission
Exclusive right to sell (sole agency) — one agent only; commission payable on any sale during the term, including by the owner
Net listing — the agent retains the amount by which the price exceeds a net figure set by the owner

Which prescribed form goes with which listing

Regulation 10 of the Estate Agents (Estate Agency Work) Regulations 2010 prescribes eight forms in the Third Schedule for residential property in Singapore. The scheme is simple once seen: Forms 1 to 4 are the non-exclusive versions and Forms 5 to 8 the exclusive versions, in the same order each time — sale, purchase, lease by a landlord, lease by a tenant. They cover all residential property, HDB flats and private alike, and “residential property” includes mixed residential and non-residential property, so a mixed-use shophouse falls within them. There is no separate HDB set and no separate commercial set. Regulation 11 disapplies the section 44 requirement for property outside Singapore, commercial or industrial property, collective sales under Part VA of the Land Titles (Strata) Act, developer sales under the Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) Act, and work for which no form is prescribed, so a factory or shop listing needs no prescribed form — though the Code of Ethics still requires a written agreement with exact terms.

Where a prescribed form does apply, using it matters commercially: CEA’s position is that an agent who does not use the applicable form will find its right to claim against its client affected under section 44 of the Estate Agents Act. Several of the forms’ own terms are examined. Additional terms must be printed on pink paper and must not conflict with the prescribed terms, so they cannot override them. The form must state whether the agency is GST-registered and whether commission is inclusive or exclusive of GST. For an HDB transaction, the client owes no commission if the deal fails because of the client’s own ineligibility. And the forms fix no commission rate: CEA prescribes none, so the amount is negotiable and should be agreed before work starts. Estate agency agreements are not registered with CEA and are not endorsed by HDB.

Sale of residential property — Form 1 (non-exclusive), Form 5 (exclusive)
Purchase of residential property — Form 2 (non-exclusive), Form 6 (exclusive)
Lease of residential property by a landlord — Form 3 (non-exclusive), Form 7 (exclusive)
Lease of residential property by a tenant — Form 4 (non-exclusive), Form 8 (exclusive)

Effective cause: who gets paid when two agencies claim the same fee

Under an open listing the question of who is paid is answered by the common law effective cause test: whose introduction and efforts actually brought the parties to a binding transaction. Introduction, instrumentality and effective cause are distinct ideas, and an introduction alone is necessary but not sufficient.

The pattern the examiner uses is consistent. Agency P introduces a buyer, the buyer makes a low offer or simply loses interest, negotiations end, and months later Agency Q revives that buyer’s interest, arranges a fresh viewing, deals with the objections, negotiates the price and secures the option. On those facts the chain of causation from P’s introduction has broken and Q is the effective cause, so Q alone is paid. A price reduction by the owner in the meantime does not deprive Q of its fee, and the buyer having first seen P’s advertisement does not entitle P to anything. Conversely, where the same agency introduces the buyer, arranges the viewing and negotiates the terms later accepted almost unchanged, a pause in negotiations or the buyer going directly to the seller at the end does not defeat that agency’s claim, and the agency need not be present when the option is signed.

Two propositions are always wrong. There is no rule that competing agencies share the fee equally or that the owner must pay both. And an agency’s commission claim is a personal contractual claim against the client, not an interest in land, so it cannot support a caveat.

Calculation questions attach to this. Where the agency is GST-registered its services are a taxable supply, so GST — 9 per cent as at October 2026 — is added even though the sale or lease of residential property is itself GST-exempt — the exemption attaches to the property transaction, not the agent’s fee. An agency that is not GST-registered cannot charge GST at all, and a co-broking split is a matter between the agencies that does not reduce what the client owes the listing agency.

Where owners get caught: two commissions for one sale

The most heavily tested scenario in this unit is the owner who signs with a second agency during an exclusive period. A later agreement does not cancel the earlier one, and the conflict between the two is the owner’s problem, not a ground on which either agency’s claim fails.

Under an exclusive right to sell, the first agency is entitled to its commission because the property was sold during the term, whoever found the buyer, or alternatively to damages for breach; the second agency has its own valid contract and was the effective cause, so it can claim too. The owner pays twice. Under an exclusive agency listing the same result follows where the sale went through another agent, because the owner’s reserved right extends only to a sale by their own efforts. Notice to the first agency changes nothing. The sound course, and the one the better answer options describe, is for an agency holding a buyer for a property already under an exclusive mandate to co-broke through the listing agency rather than take a separate listing.

Co-broking and conduct towards other agents

Co-broking is permitted under any listing type, including an exclusive one, and is governed by CEA’s Practice Guidelines on the Conduct of Estate Agents and Real Estate Salespersons towards one another, issued on 20 March 2023 and effective from 24 March 2023. The rules are set out below.

Two points are worth drawing out. Soliciting a client under an exclusive agreement is prohibited even if the salesperson offers to waive commission, and making false statements about that agreement would also breach the Code of Ethics; but approaching an owner after the exclusive agreement has ended is not soliciting a client under one, so it is not caught. And co-broking never licenses dual representation: the listing salesperson remains the seller’s agent only, because acting for both seller and buyer of the same property is prohibited by regulation 5 regardless of disclosure or consent. All offers, including those arriving through a co-broking agent, must still be conveyed to the client promptly and accurately.

Finally, note where disputes go. A client’s dispute with the agency it engaged under an estate agency agreement — a commission claim, for instance — may go to CEA’s Dispute Resolution Scheme, which begins with mediation and moves to arbitration only if mediation fails. A dispute between two agencies or two salespersons over a co-broking split falls outside the scheme: the parties resolve it directly, through the other agency’s Key Executive Officer, or with the help of the industry association, the Singapore Institute of Estate Agents (SIEA), which took that name in October 2025 and was previously the Singapore Estate Agents Association.

Confirm co-broking terms in writing between the listing and co-broking parties before the transaction closes; fee-sharing is their own responsibility and CEA neither fixes nor arbitrates the split
Deal with the vendor’s appointed agent, not directly with the vendor
Do not ask for or use the listing agent’s client’s contact details, or approach that client, without the listing agent’s written consent
Do not solicit a client who is under an exclusive agreement, or influence that client to terminate it
Do not use phrases such as “already co-broke”, “no co-broke” or “no agents” in advertisements

Terms to know

Open (non-exclusive) listing: An appointment under which the owner may engage several agents and sell personally, paying only the agent who is the effective cause of the sale.
Exclusive agency listing: An appointment of one agency to the exclusion of other agents, under which the owner may still sell by their own efforts without paying commission.
Exclusive right to sell (sole agency): An appointment under which the agency earns commission on any sale during the listing period, whoever finds the buyer, including the owner.
Net listing: An arrangement under which the agent retains the amount by which the sale price exceeds a net figure set by the owner.
Co-broking: Cooperation between a listing agency and another agency with an interested party, on fee-sharing terms confirmed in writing before the transaction closes.
Prescribed estate agency agreement form: One of Forms 1 to 8 in the Third Schedule to the Estate Agency Work Regulations, required for estate agency work on residential property in Singapore.
Pink paper rule: The requirement that any additional terms added to a prescribed form be printed on pink paper and not conflict with the prescribed terms.
Effective cause: The real and operative cause of a transaction; the test for which agent has earned commission where more than one was involved.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an exclusive agency listing and an exclusive right to sell?

Both appoint one agency and exclude other agents for the agreed period. Under an exclusive agency listing the owner keeps the right to sell the property through their own efforts without paying commission. Under an exclusive right to sell, also called a sole agency, the agency earns its commission if the property is sold at any time during the term, even if the owner found the buyer. Which applies depends on the wording of the signed agreement.

If an owner gives open listings to three agencies and then sells to a friend, who gets paid?

No one. Under an open listing commission is earned only by the agency that was the effective cause of the sale, and an owner who finds the buyer through their own efforts owes nothing to any appointed agency. The order in which the agencies were appointed, and the amount each spent on advertising, make no difference.

Which prescribed form does a landlord use to appoint one agency exclusively?

Form 7. Forms 1 to 4 are the non-exclusive agreements for sale, purchase, lease by a landlord and lease by a tenant, and Forms 5 to 8 are the exclusive versions in the same order. So Form 3 is the non-exclusive landlord form, Form 7 the exclusive landlord form, Form 4 the non-exclusive tenant form and Form 8 the exclusive tenant form.

Can an owner be made to pay two commissions on one sale?

Yes. If an owner appoints a second agency during an exclusive period, the later agreement does not cancel the earlier one. Under an exclusive right to sell the first agency is entitled to commission on any sale during the term, and the second agency can claim under its own contract as the effective cause, so both claims can succeed. There is no rule requiring them to share a single fee.

Is a prescribed form needed for an exclusive listing on a shop or factory unit?

No. Regulation 11 of the Estate Agents (Estate Agency Work) Regulations 2010 disapplies the prescribed-form requirement for commercial and industrial property, as well as for property outside Singapore, collective sales and developer sales. The Code of Ethics still requires financial agreements to be in writing with exact terms and no blanks, so the appointment should be documented in the agency’s own written agreement.

Does GST apply to the commission on a residential sale?

Yes, where the estate agency is GST-registered. The sale or lease of residential property is GST-exempt, but the agency’s service is a taxable supply, so GST at 9 per cent, the rate as at October 2026, is added to the commission. An agency that is not GST-registered cannot charge GST. The prescribed form must state the agency’s GST registration status and whether the commission is inclusive or exclusive of GST.

Official sources

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