By Escarlin Pozo
El Inmobiliario
SANTO DOMINGO– Steps toward regulation within the real estate sector continue to be taken. Last week, Representatives Braulio Espinal, Indhira de Jesús, Edward Cruz, and Charles Mariotti submitted the “Bill Regulating Real Estate Services and Brokerage Contracts” in the Dominican Republic.
Espinal announced this during a conversation with El Inmobiliario, in which he highlighted that the preliminary draft was submitted to the legislature last Wednesday, March 12, and that the following day, Thursday, it was admitted for study and sent to the justice committee.
As detailed in the legislative document, the law "aims to protect the legal relationship between the proposer and the real estate broker or their agents.".
The proposal aims to maintain confidence within the real estate market, based on the legal transaction carried out through the participation of these actors.
“This law includes the regulatory, organizational and management regime of the real estate brokerage activity, applicable to real estate intermediaries operating in the national territory,” the bill states.
It also addresses the requirements for the development of this profession, the rights and obligations of real estate brokers and agents.
Similarly, it covers the brokerage contract and the quality control of each of the services offered in the national territory, whether by natural or legal persons.
“Currently, there is no system of consequences. There is no system that grants licenses; instead, it's essentially a cartel-like registration process where anyone can go and pay for the permit, and that's it, they're off and running. It shouldn't be like that,” Braulio explains, speaking about the current situation in the country regarding this activity.
In that regard, he clarified that people who wish to work as a broker or real estate agent must take a course that teaches them their responsibilities and the consequences of failing to comply with basic principles of this profession.
“There must be a system, as we established in the preliminary draft, where there is a webpage where you can verify if you actually have a license, if it is valid, or if you have a pending case in court,” he explained.
Furthermore, he emphasized that on this portal, people interested in a property can check if the professionals have any complaints against them, which serves as a warning to third parties interested in buying or renting.
“What surprises me most is that, when we talk to the actors, those who truly practice the profession of real estate agent and broker, it is that they themselves are the ones who want to be regulated so that society separates them from those who are carrying out these kinds of interventions, but doing so criminally,” he said.
Espinal said that the Justice Commission appointed by the Lower House to study the bill will hear his explanation as president of the special commission that analyzed the proposal and of the Association of Real Estate Agents and Companies (AEI).
The Justice Commission is chaired by Wandy Modesto Batista Gómez, deputy of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) for La Romana.
