The general rule for property ads in this free forum is that the advertisers can't charge commission and that it should be their own or their friends' flats. If we suspect property agents advertising here we'll throw them out and ask them to advertise on the home page (which they never do). Not a single agent has ever advertised on this site, except one who was selling a few small flats for around $1 million each around 10 years or so ago. An entire old-style 2-floor Chinese house in Ko Long was advertised for $1 million, but never found a buyer back then.
Of course, agents might contact people looking for flats here directly, not much we can do to stop that on a public forum.
Enforcing charges and collecting the money for any classifieds would be such a head-ache and administrative overhead, I couldn't handle it myself. I think that it would be hardly worth my effort and time to follow up and collect this kind of small charges as they wouldn't be voluntary and advertisers would try hard to avoid them, of course. But if somebody, not an agent, promises a donation for any classified ad, we might make their post sticky, giving them top-of-the-classifieds exposure for several weeks or until sold. Thank you, adamk, for your just received donation!
This site still relies on (completely voluntary) advertisers and the occasional, very rare donors and sponsors. I hope that my long-time acquaintance and nice guy Damian will be one of them, despite all the heat he's getting here.
Let's focus blame on property agents actively driving up rents, not on individual flat owners who see a simple opportunity for easy profit. Their agents tell them of some record price they've achieved with a single top flat, baiting the landlords' normal, human greed. Some agents are trying hard to convince flat owners to increase their rent and sale prices dramatically, increasing their own commissions, but leaving the owners disappointed if the flats stay empty and unsold for many months afterwards. Simply look at the agents' windows for numerous examples and a currently quite large supply of empty flats.
Off-island friends of mine, following my recommendations above, have been recently looking at dozens of unoccupied flats all over Lamma at still "reasonable" prices, relying on simple word of mouth, online and in person, avoiding property agents altogether.
Most Lamma landlords are still pretty decent and reasonable, I think. The above-average greedy minority is still a minority but they're over-represented in agents' windows. The few good deals ever advertised are taken up within days, but the bad deals stay in the windows for months.