Registered real estate agent (REA), real estate negotiators (REN) and illegal agents are the main servers in Malaysia’s real estate brokerage industry. As of August 2022, the three types of service providers amount to about a total of 122,000 active personnel. The Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers (BOVEAPM) regulates REA and REN while illegal agents are not regulated. Often consumers cannot distinguish the differences among the three types of service providers. Listingmine.com provides the following analysis.
What is a Registered Real Estate Agent (REA)
Every registered real estate agent (REA) must have an E License issued by the BOVEAPM. They need to comply with a series of criteria such as academic, practical and interview requirements for the license.  Â
REA is the only legal personnel to operate a real estate agency firm and must hold the majority share of a company. They are responsible to comply with all agency practices according to rules and regulations set by the BOVEAPM. REA can employ up to 50 real estate negotiators (REN) to perform agency tasks. BOVEAPM disciplinary actions will be enforced when the REA or REN has any misconduct.
How to become a REA
To become a registered real estate agent (REA), the candidate must first obtain an E License. The criteria to apply for an E license is to undergo a two to five year course recognized by the BOVEAPM.
| Course Duration | Eligible To become |
| 2 Years (usually diploma) | – Real Estate Agent |
| 4 to 5 Years (usually degree or master) | – Real Estate Agent – Property Valuer – Property Manager – Property Consultant |
After a candidate has obtained a recognized academic result, the candidate has to fulfil the below criteria depending on the type of recognized certificate obtained.
Degree holder
1. practice at least 1 year under an agency or valuation company
2. submit a 1 year logbook to the board
3. pass an interview answering professional questions
Non-degree holder
1. practice at least 2 years under an agency or valuation company
2. submit a 2 year logbook to the board
3. pass an interview answering professional questions
What is a Real Estate Negotiator (REN)
A real estate negotiator (REN) is an assistant to the registered real estate agent (REA). Every REN must be attached to a REA. The REA is fully responsible for all activities practiced by the REN. The BOVEAPM issues REN Tag to every REN which is applied by the sponsor REA.
How to become a REN
To become a REN, the candidate must
1. complete a two day negotiator certification course (NCC) offered by various training centers
2. attach to a real estate agency company
The company will submit the candidate application details to the BOVEAPM for REN tags. The board usually takes 1 to 3 months to process before issuing the REN tag.
A precaution is the real estate negotiator career path is not for everyone despite it being a relatively low entry requirement profession. About 70% to 80% of applicants quit the same year because they cannot survive by not concluding any deals. Relying on savings to purchase expansive leads is not feasible to inexperienced probation agents. They are lacking the only real requirement to become a REN.
We recommend intended applicants to use the free Listingmine.com private agent CRM tool to self-judge their own networking before joining the industry.
What is Illegal Agent
Illegal agent is not regulated and is serving the real estate brokerage industry just like REA or REN. As long transactions go smoothly between the client and the prospect, everyone is happy. However if something goes wrong in between the transactions due to misrepresentation, negligence by the illegal agent. There will be no protection to the client and the prospect by any authority except reporting to the police. Illegal agent entities do not have the liability insurance to cover error and omission.
The following group are main components of illegal agents in Malaysia.
1. Proptechs companies
2. Other professionals such as Lawyers and Bankers
3. Probation negotiators (before getting their REN)
4. Housewifes
5. Foreign agents
6. Property marketing firms
7. Travel agencies
8. MM2H companies
9. Investor funds
10. Foreign developers
However most illegal agents have intention to convert to REN once they discover they do have enough connections to join the industry. Especially if they want to serve the industry long term. Many are using the free Listingmine.com private agent CRM tool to manage their contacts, listings and demand especially when they join a company providing a very high commission payout ratio with almost zero support.
How many real estate brokers are in the market?
Below is a summarized table from the BOVEAPM website on the total amount of E License and REN Tag ever issued.
| Accumulated | Active in 2022 | |
| E License (Issued) | 2,907 | About 2,000 |
| REN Tag (Issued) | 58,592 | About 25,000 |
| Illegal Agents | – | Over 100,000 (2020 stats) |
There are many reasons why about 1/3 of real estate agents are no longer practicing in 2022 out of the total issued 2907 real estate agents licenses. Most common reasons are that they have already passed away or have ventured into another career path.
There are about 58592 REN tags issued need to be renewed annually. Only about 25,000 REN tags are renewed to be legally active in 2022. The rest of REN tags members have chosen to not renew their annual REN tags because mostly have exited the industry or choose to work without a REN tag.
There are over 100,000 illegal agents operating and serving the industry.
