Real estate marketing, listings and advertising rules: RES practice questions

MoneySense identifies the sponsor as a possible source of properties injected into a REIT's initial portfolio and of a continuing asset pipeline. This is an asset-sourcing role, not an automatic guarantee of investor income. The same guidance identifies holding assets on behalf of unit holders as the trustee's role and routine property upkeep as a property manager's responsibility. The question distinguishes capacities; it does not imply that related companies cannot perform different roles within a REIT structure.

CEA's Ethical Advertising guidelines prohibit altering or enhancing photographs in a way that misrepresents actual aspects of a property. Removing a permanent structural column and presenting the image as the current room misstates a real feature; this is not merely improving presentation. Accurate marketing supports informed decisions and honest dealings from the first contact. Owner approval, a later opportunity to inspect, or calling the image promotional artwork does not change the misleading representation described in the question.

Clause 2 of each prescribed sale form identifies the property to which the appointment applies. The explanatory notes expressly allow separate agreements for separate properties. On these facts, Beacon's exclusive appointment concerns Apartment X, not every property the owner owns. Grove's non-exclusive appointment concerns Apartment Y and does not alter the terms for X. The practical importance is to read both the listing type and its property scope; counting all agencies used by the client across unrelated properties gives the wrong classification.

JTC distinguishes types of workers' dormitories but separately excludes factory-converted dormitories from high-rise factories. A proposal to house the occupier's own workers does not remove that building-type restriction. Neither a private lease clause nor limiting the hours of sleeping changes the location category. With no special departure in the facts, the salesperson must not market the proposed dormitory conversion as available.

Section 2(1) defines residential property by reference to premises permitted under written law to be used as a dwelling house, including such premises under construction. The stipulated storeroom lacks that permitted use. Neither actual sleeping arrangements nor a contractual label supplies it. The First Schedule excepts a lease of residential property granted for rent, not every rent-paying lease. Accordingly, this lease cannot rely on that exception. This is a classification question under the CPFTA, not advice that the occupation or lease is otherwise lawful.