Complaint against EAA and its Staff

The EAA is a statutory organization providing services to the public and licensees in regulating the estate agency trade. To ensure prompt handling of complaints from external parties against the EAA or its staff and to facilitate effective follow-up action, a complaints handling procedure has been established as set out below.

Definition of complaint
A complaint is a statement of dissatisfaction regarding the way in which the EAA or its staff has carried out or failed to carry out his/her duties in relation to the EAA’s functions. In the case of a complaint against staff, it includes any alleged failure to observe proper mannerism, conduct and behavior by the staff, as such failure may damage public confidence in the EAA and its effectiveness as a regulator of the estate agency trade.

Eligible complainant
Any person who is directly affected may lodge a complaint. Generally, a person is “directly affected” when the person alleges personal inconvenience, distress or loss as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the EAA or its staff in the discharge of their duties in relation to EAA’s functions.

Scope of complaint
The following complaints will not be handled by the EAA:-

• Any complaint about the propriety or appropriateness of administrative or operational decisions made by the EAA or any of its staff in the course of performing EAA’s functions that have been delegated to him/her.
• Any complaint which is an expression of general dissatisfaction with the EAA’s policy in the discharge of its functions.                
• Any complaint expressing dissatisfaction with the EAA’s decision in respect of a complaint about the estate agency trade, but without implications as to the mannerism, conduct and behaviour of any staff who recommended or endorsed the decision.
• Any complaint the subject matter of which is a civil dispute between the complainant and the staff.
• Any complaint which is the subject of an ongoing investigation by another public body, e.g. the Ombudsman or the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
• Save in very exceptional circumstances and subject to the CEO’s absolute discretion, any complaint which is raised anonymously.

A complaint connected with, or that arises from, any form of continuing action by the EAA will not normally be processed until such action has been concluded, unless it would be unreasonable to expect the complainant to await the conclusions of such action and such action would not be materially affected by the EAA processing the complaint in parallel. The complainant needs not be the subject of such action by the EAA.

Complaint lodging procedures
Eligible complainant who wishes to lodge a complaint should write to the Director of Services (or to the Chief Executive Officer if the complaint is about the Director of Services) within six months from the occurrence of the matter/incident complained of, unless the complainant could show a reasonable ground for the delay. Eligible complainant may lodge a complaint through one of the following means:

To ensure that there are no misunderstandings or omissions about the matters complained of, the complaint must be lodged in writing. If the complainant is not able to make the complaint in writing, the EAA may consider inviting the complainant to lodge the complaint in person at the EAA’s office. A written summary of the complaint will be prepared for complainant’s written confirmation. Otherwise, the complaint will not be handled.

The EAA treats every complaint seriously. To enable the EAA to process the complaint in a fair, reasonable and objective manner in relation to all parties concerned, the following information must be provided in the written document:-

• The full name of the complainant as shown in one of his/her official identification documents, his/her postal or email address, and his/her contact telephone number;
• Name of complainee;
• Details about the complaint and the matter/incident complained of;
• Copies of relevant supporting documents and other evidence, if any.

If the above information is not provided or is incomplete or inaccurate, the EAA may not process the complaint.

Complaint handling procedures
The Director of Services will write to the complainant to acknowledge receipt of the complaint within 7 working days of receiving the complaint. A written reply will be issued to the complainant on the outcome of the investigation, where applicable.

Eligible complainant who is dissatisfied with the investigation result may submit new material information or evidence to the EAA for review within three months from the date of EAA’s first written reply on the outcome of the investigation. Failing the submission of such new material information or evidence within the said time limit, EAA’s decision shall be final and cannot be appealed against. 

If a complainant persists in pursuing the complaint in the absence of new material information or evidence, EAA shall have the right to refrain from entering into any further discussion or correspondence with the complainant about the complaint.