SANTO DOMINGO.- Deputy Braulio Espinal, who chairs the Special Commission appointed by the Chamber of Deputies to study the bill that seeks to regulate real estate intermediation in the Dominican Republic, stated yesterday that the bill aims to restore confidence in the country's real estate market.
He stated that currently there are "too many people being deceived inside and outside the country," so they must provide society with an applicable law that corrects the problems that are currently occurring.
“We are hoping that we can protect the legal relationship between the proponent and the real estate broker or their agents, and restore confidence to the market,” the congressman for Santiago de los Caballeros told El Inmobiliario .
He noted that the commission he heads is currently in the evaluation phase to submit a final report to the Lower House.
“This committee is meeting twice a week to have that report ready by the end of the month or the first week of next month, if possible,” Espinal replied.
Braulio Espinal. (EXTERNAL SOURCE).
He emphasized that “we hope to give the country an applicable law that corrects the problems that are currently occurring. We have too many people being deceived both inside and outside the country,” he stated.
The project
The proposed law aims to regulate, supervise, develop and promote an orderly, efficient and transparent real estate brokerage market, with the purpose of protecting the rights and interests of both property buyers and sellers and real estate developers.
Similarly, the aim is to preserve confidence in the Dominican real estate market by establishing conditions that ensure information on the promotion of real estate transactions is truthful, sufficient, and timely, in order to contribute to the country's economic and social development.
In this new attempt to regulate the work of real estate agents in the country, it is proposed that the Ministry of Housing, Habitat and Buildings (MIVHED) be in charge, in the first instance, of the execution, compliance and control of the functions put in charge by the governing body, and its complementary regulations, including the imposition of the sanctions stipulated in the law.
The country has been considering proposals on this matter for over 20 years. This time, the aim is to secure its approval, taking into account the significant growth experienced by the real estate sector in the Dominican Republic, which urgently requires regulations governing its operations.
Three aspects of the project
Article 6 of the bill states that the Dominican real estate market would be regulated and supervised by the Ministry of Housing, Habitat and Buildings (MIVHED).
Likewise, Article 34 of the proposal proposes the creation of an ethics committee through which complaints and violations not covered by the legislation will be resolved.
“The ethics committee of the Real Estate Brokerage Market will address and resolve, in accordance with the procedure established by regulation in the code of ethics of the real estate brokerage market, complaints and violations thereof that do not constitute the sanctions established in the following title,” highlights Article 35.
Similarly, Article 55 of the law establishes that real estate crimes that have "aggravating circumstances" will be punished with up to 10 years in prison and up to 100 minimum wages, taking as a reference what is paid in the public sector.
