SANTO DOMINGO.– Article 55 of the law that would regulate Real Estate Intermediation in the country, which is currently being studied by the Justice Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, states that real estate crimes with "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.
"The aforementioned punishable acts shall be sanctioned with four (4) to ten (10) years of imprisonment and a fine of fifty (50) to one hundred (100) minimum wages corresponding to the public sector if two (2) or more of the following conditions are met." This refers to:
- If there are more than ten (10) victims;
- If the victims are particularly vulnerable because of their age, sex, illness, disability, physical or mental impairment, provided that this situation is evident or known to the perpetrator;
- If it is committed by several people, acting as perpetrators or accomplices, regardless of whether or not they form a criminal association;
- If the values defrauded with the actions indicated in the previous article are equal to or greater than two thousand (2000) minimum wages of the public sector.
Article 54 of the proposed law to regulate real estate intermediation in the Dominican Republic establishes that public action crimes that are not considered aggravating circumstances will be punished with sentences of two (2) to five (5) years of major imprisonment, as well as with the payment of fines of twenty (20) to fifty (50) minimum wages corresponding to the public sector.
Classify the following as punishable actions:
Persons who knowingly or with reason to know, openly promote and solicit funds from the public, either directly or through third parties, by promising to develop any type of real estate projects in the following cases:
That he does not possess any type of property rights over the property where it is intended to be developed, nor the minimum financial capacity required to carry it out.
Likewise, actions contrary to the law will be considered to be those of persons who use the funds received for the development or construction of real estate and real estate projects for their personal benefit or for a purpose other than that for which they were given, thereby putting at risk the execution and delivery of the required properties.
This also includes those that simulate the existence of non-existent real estate projects with the sole purpose of attracting money or investments of any kind.
The draft bill that "regulates Real Estate Intermediation" represents a new attempt by the country to have a tool that establishes the rules for the practice of real estate in the country, a profession that has grown significantly in recent years in the Dominican nation.
