In order to raise the standard of new practitioners of the estate agency profession and to enhance protection for consumers, the Estate Agents Authority is going to enhance the standard of the Qualifying Examinations starting from July 2005. Changes will be made to the future Qualifying Examinations in two aspects: to revise the format of the Estate Agents Qualifying Examination and to revise the syllabus of both the Estate Agents and Salespersons Qualifying Examinations.

The revised Estate Agents Qualifying Examination shall comprise two parts: Part I will consist of 30 questions to test candidates' knowledge on the various sections of the syllabus. Part II will consist of 20 questions relating to one or two comprehensive case studies portraying a real-life client situation to integrate tests on all the practical knowledge expected from an estate agent including interpretation of land search, completion of the prescribed forms, compliance with the legislative regime, practical issues such as estate agency law, conveyancing and tenancy. Candidates will be required to pass both parts in order to pass the Examination. To compensate for the more difficult features and allow sufficient time for the comprehension of the case studies in Part II, the duration of the Examination will be extended from currently two hours to three hours.

The Authority will at the same time update the syllabus for both the Estate Agents and the Salespersons Qualifying Examinations. The revision includes adding the essentials of the Building Management Ordinance (Cap. 344). Candidates are presently required to know the consequences to an owner of an encumbrance registered against his property, but not specifically those registered against the Incorporated Owners. The Authority considers that practitioners should have knowledge on the Building Management Ordinance (Cap. 344) and therefore revises the Examination syllabus accordingly. Also, as the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance (Cap.7) was amended last year by the Government, and the Land Registry has commenced the Integrated Registration Information System (IRIS) in February 2005, the Authority will therefore update the Examination syllabus this July to incorporate the above two features.