During the Federation of Estate Agent’s annual general meeting held recently at the Chamber of Commerce in Valletta, the council for 2007 was voted in and a number of important issues tackled.

The new 2007 council is made up of Douglas Salt (president), Trafford Busuttil (vice-president), Manjri Borg Bindra (Secretary), Steve Sant Fournier (treasurer), Ian Casolani (public relations), Joseph Sullivan (legal), and Joe Mercieca (Gozo).

During the meeting, the council outlined its achievements for 2006, which mainly included: lobbying with the government and relevant authorities on issues relating to the property market; securing HSBC as sponsors of the Federation; the start of a detailed course for Property Negotiators and more importantly, the drafting up of a revised code of ethics.

In fact, the latter was one of the main items on the agenda, as it is a project the council had been working on for a number of months. This code of ethics is now chaired by an independent panel made up of a reputable lawyer and two notaries (one being the president of the Chamber of Notaries).

All Federation members have signed their commitment to this code of ethics and are obliged to honour the conditions and responsibilities that have been agreed on. The objective is to regulate agencies between themselves and more importantly with their customers, ensuring that, at all times, the customer is protected and looked after in the professional and ethical manner they expect.

The ethics committee must be available for any cases that may arise and have set up a penalty structure that carries heavy fines for any member in breach of this code. Should a member default more than once, he/she will risk being suspended or expelled from the federation.

The AGM ended with a call for all members to inform their staff of their individual responsibilities to their clients and their competitors and to urge them to honour these obligations.