It provides for a fine equivalent to fifty to one hundred percent of the amount obtained as payment for the services provided by the real estate professional, which will be set proportionally and equitably by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and SMEs.
SANTO DOMINGO.- If a person or company were to practice the profession of broker, agent, sales assistant or real estate company without the proper license issued by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and MSMEs, they would be considered liable for the crime of usurpation of functions and would be subject to sanctions, in accordance with article 258 of the Dominican Penal Code, as established by the bill currently before the National Congress to regulate real estate services and brokerage contracts in the country.
Article 258 of the Dominican Penal Code, referring to the usurpation of titles or functions, states that “those who without titles have assumed public, civil or military functions, or have performed or exercised acts proper to one of those functions, will be punished with correctional imprisonment of one month to one year, without prejudice to the penalties pronounced by the Code, for the crime of falsification, if the acts performed or exercised by them have the characteristics of that crime.”.
The legislative piece authored by the deputy for the second district of the National District, Lourdes Aybar de Serulle, establishes that violations and offenses will be sanctioned by means of: written admonition, when real estate professionals and instructors or facilitators omit, within the term established in the Regulation, the notification to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and MSMEs of the changes in their data provided for their Registration.
It also provides for a fine equivalent to fifty to one hundred percent of the amount obtained as payment for the services provided by the real estate professional, which will be set proportionally and equitably by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and MSMEs, as established in Article 71 of the Law; in addition, it will be suspended for up to six months in case of recidivism and for two years for violating any of the prohibitions of sections 2, 3 and 4 of article 37 of the Law.
The bill states that the definitive cancellation of the authorization will be carried out in cases of serious violations such as being convicted of an intentional crime, through a final judgment that warrants corporal punishment, having obtained the authorization with false information and documentation, and for having committed offenses stipulated in article 12 of the law.
“If your license has been cancelled, you will not be able to be licensed again. The infraction of acting as a real estate intermediary without being licensed will be sanctioned with a fine of up to 50 times the current general minimum wage,” the document states.
The project proposes that the sanctions and precautionary measures, precautionary measures and the corresponding administrative sanctions for the infractions provided for in the law, be imposed by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and MSMEs, according to the statutory procedure of the Law of the Function and Public Administration.
Regarding administrative sanctions, the project stipulates that they would be applied by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and SMEs through a resolution, taking into account the severity of the infraction and the economic capacity of the offender, and after hearing the interested party, who will have a peremptory deadline to provide evidence, in accordance with the procedure established by the regulations.
“The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and MSMEs will investigate and sanction the illegal practice of real estate brokerage in accordance with the law. The Attorney General's Office, either on its own initiative or at the request of the Ministry of Industry and MSMEs, through official written communication stating the violation of the precept(s) established by the Law, will, as protector of the interests of citizens, take charge of bringing to justice all those national or foreign persons or companies that, in violation of the provisions of the Law, commit the crimes established therein.”.
