The Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) has embarked on an awareness campaign for all prospective property consumers to advise them and encourage them to only deal with estate agents whose compliant registration status is evidenced by their EAAB Privyseal.

It has come to our attention that many estate agents’ Privyseal were incorrectly embedded in their email and even website listings as static (unchanging) images.  It is important that your EAAB Privyseal is properly embedded so that it always updates and shows the current date and time.  The date and time on your Privyseal indicates when last your qualification was checked by PrivySeal. This check is performed every 5 minutes so even if the email was sent several days or weeks prior, when the email is viewed it will reflect the current date and time.  

By using a static copy of your Privyseal, you will be seen to not be currently in good standing with the EAAB.

Estate agents are advised that copying and pasting their Privyseal into their email will result in the Privyseal not updating.  To correctly embed your Privyseal so that it always updates and reflects the last time and date your qualifications were checked you should follow the installation instructions on www.privyseal.com/FAQ.

It is the intention of the Board to ensure that property consumers know that only registered estate agents whose Privyseals reflect the current date and time should be regarded as bona fide registered estate agents.

We call on all registered estate agents to join forces to ensure the unregistered and bogus estate agents, who will not have current Privyseals, are exposed and forced to comply with the Estate Agent Affairs Act.

At all times, and especially in the current depressed economic climate, registered estate agents cannot afford unfair, unregistered competitors to go about pretending that they are bona fide registered estate agents.

By correctly using your Privyseal in your email, on your website and alongside your property listings on the property portals and by ensuring your Privyseal reflects the current date and time, you will drive awareness on the need for property consumers to protect themselves by only dealing with registered and properly qualified estate agents.

Date of Issue: 07 July 2017