Issuesthat directly affect construction and the real estate market are divided among the committees on Public Works, Housing, Habitat and Buildings, Industry, Commerce and Free Zones, and Justice and Human Rights.
SANTO DOMINGO. – Tracking the files allows us to separate two agendas: one is directly related to construction activity, the regularization of buildings, and infrastructure maintenance.
The other one deals with real estate intermediation, condominiums, investment and legal security of real estate transactions.
An extraordinary regularization
The project that establishes an extraordinary, temporary and conditional regime for the regularization of constructions, urban adaptation, cadastral updating and registration linkage is one of the most recent initiatives with a direct impact on the construction sector.
It has the file number 01655-2026-PLO-SE and was deposited in the Senate on June 9, 2026 by Senator Rafael Barón Duluc Rijo and on that same day it was sent to the Permanent Commission of Public Works.
The proposal addresses four issues jointly: buildings that need to be regularized, urban planning adaptation, cadastral updating and linking between cadastral and registry information.
By its nature, the project is not limited to a building permit, but its scope also touches on the documentary status of the properties and, therefore, the possibility that an existing building can be formally linked with the corresponding cadastral and registry information.
The bill is still in its early stages, and the Senate's public records, available for tracking the initiative, show its filing and referral to committee, but not a report from the Public Works Committee or a first reading approval.
It is also one of the pieces that should be followed because it may have consequences for a universe of existing constructions that are not completely aligned with urban planning, cadastral or registry requirements.
However, this project should not be confused with Law 368-22 on Territorial Planning, Land Use, and Human Settlements, which is already in effect and whose regulations were subsequently approved. The regularization initiative has a different objective: to establish an extraordinary regime for existing situations.
Maintenance of state buildings every ten years
Another bill directly related to the existing infrastructure is currently being considered in the Chamber of Deputies. It is the Bill on Maintenance Every 10 Years of State Building Infrastructure, filed under number 05423-2024-2028-CD.
It was deposited on March 17, 2026 by the deputy Elvira Corporán de los Santos de Lebrón and the following day it was taken into consideration by the Plenary and sent to the Permanent Commission of Housing, Habitat and Buildings.
The Commission added it to its agenda on April 8, along with the project to modernize the property regime in condominiums and other initiatives related to buildings.
The project establishes a periodic maintenance obligation for state buildings and its interest for the construction sector lies in shifting the focus from new construction to the preservation of existing infrastructure.
According to the latest public records, the initiative had not yet been presented to the full council for its first reading. Its current status: under review by the Standing Committee on Housing, Habitat, and Buildings.
Condominiums on the construction agenda
Although the condominium project clearly belongs to the real estate market, its location in the Housing, Habitat and Building Commission gives it a constructive dimension.
The Comprehensive Bill for the Modernization and Regulation of the Condominium Property Regime of the Dominican Republic was initially deposited on June 10, 2025, with file number 04357-2024-2028-CD.
The Chamber took it into consideration on June 18, 2025 and sent it to the Standing Committee on Housing, Habitat and Buildings.
Its importance for construction and the real estate market lies in the fact that the condominium ownership regime affects the organization of buildings subject to that regime, the rights over common areas and the relationship between owners and administration.
The initiative was subsequently reintroduced on March 12, 2026, with file number 05386-2024-2028-CD, maintaining the previous file as a reference, and this new version was sent back to the same committee.
On April 8, 2026, the Housing, Habitat and Building Commission expressly placed file 05386 among the initiatives it had to study.
The documented trajectory shows, therefore, two successive files for the same legislative line, not two different projects, and it is currently under committee study.
Real estate brokerage, the sector that has advanced the most
In January 2026, three bills were presented to the Senate seeking to regulate real estate intermediation, with different formulations:
- 01305-2026-PLO-SE, by Félix Ramón Bautista Rosario, deposited on January 20;
- 01327-2026-PLO-SE, by Eduard Alexis Espiritusanto Castillo, deposited on January 28;
- 01334-2026-PLO-SE, by Rafael Barón Duluc Rijo, deposited on January 29.
This is currently the real estate piece with the longest legislative history, but the report of the Standing Committee on Industry, Commerce and Free Zones merged the three initiatives, establishing 01334-2026 as the basis, because it considered that it encompassed the purpose of the other two.
All three proposals also have precedents. In 2025, Félix Bautista submitted file 00426-2025-PLO-SE; Eduard Espiritusanto, 00424-2025-PLO-SE; and Rafael Barón Duluc, 00620-2025-PLO-SE. All three initiatives expired that same year and were subsequently reintroduced in 2026.
The bill seeks to regulate real estate intermediation and misleading advertising, and establishes the Ministry of Housing, Habitat and Buildings as the governing body for this activity, creating mechanisms for registration, control and supervision of real estate agents and agencies.
In other words, the legislative debate on the regulation of real estate intermediaries did not begin in 2026. The three legislators had presented similar proposals and reintroduced them, although the Commission made progress in unifying the text during 2025 and it is documented that in September of that year it was already working on articles 22 to 56.
In November, he reported that he had merged the three proposals and that he would continue the review with the Technical Directorate of Legislative Review.
On April 21, 2026, the Commission issued a favorable report with modifications and formally merged the three files based on 01334, and on that same day the report was read by the Plenary.
On April 23, the Senate approved the initiative in its first reading, and it was subsequently approved in its second reading. The next step was sending it to the Chamber of Deputies.
Current status: Senate exhausted; bill sent to the Chamber of Deputies to continue the legislative process.
Condominiums: a reform that is still in committee
The condominium project has a double meaning: from a construction point of view, it affects the regulation of buildings subject to the horizontal property regime.
From a real estate perspective, it directly affects the ownership, administration, and use of units and common areas.
The first version, file 04357-2024-2028-CD, was deposited on June 10, 2025 and sent to the Housing, Habitat and Building Commission on June 18.
The following year it was reintroduced as 05386-2024-2028-CD, deposited on March 12, 2026 and the Commission expressly incorporated it into its work agenda of April 8, 2026.
Currently, the project is under review by the Standing Committee on Housing, Habitat and Buildings, so this is one of the real estate projects that can still change substantially before reaching the Plenary.
Investment promotion
The Dominican Republic's Investment Promotion Bill has an even longer history. The original initiative was presented by Alexis Victoria Yeb in 2024.
It was initiated in the Senate on February 28, 2024, approved by that chamber on June 25 and sent to the Chamber of Deputies on July 8, 2024, but that file ended up being expired.
The initiative was reintroduced in the Senate in 2026 with file 01396-2026-PLO-SE, deposited on February 19, 2026. The Senate took it into consideration and sent it to committee on March 4.
The piece establishes a legal framework for domestic and foreign investment and defines the rights and obligations of investors.
The Committee on Industry, Commerce, and Free Trade Zones agreed to submit its report on May 12, and it was indeed read on May 13. The Senate approved the initiative on its first reading and then on its second reading.
Its relationship with the real estate market is not exclusive, because the project has a cross-cutting scope on investment, which is why it should not be presented as a "real estate law".
But it does belong on the agenda that the real estate sector must follow: general rules on investment, legal certainty, and investor rights can influence capital decisions that also affect real estate development. Current status: approved by the Senate and pending in the Chamber of Deputies, which considers it valid, not expired.
Expropriation of real estate
There is also a less visible initiative, but one of great importance to owners and developers: the Organic Law Project on Expropriation of Real Estate by Declaration of Public Utility or Social Interest.
File 01299-2026-PLO-SE was submitted on January 19, 2026 by Senator Félix Ramón Bautista Rosario and sent to the Permanent Commission on Justice and Human Rights.
The initiative seeks to establish an organic regime for the expropriation of real estate when there is a declaration of public utility or social interest.
It is not a real estate law in the commercial sense, but it does directly touch on a central element of the land market: the conditions under which the State can forcibly acquire a property and the procedure that must be followed.
The file is not among the projects that have advanced to the Plenary in the sources consulted and is under committee study.
The map left by Congress
By separating the initiatives by subject matter, the picture becomes clearer.
Construction
1. Regularization of constructions, urban planning adaptation, cadastral updating and registration linkage
Exp. 01655-2026-SLO-SE
Deposited: June 9, 2026.
Status: in Public Works Committee.
2. Maintenance every 10 years of State buildings
Exp. 05423-2024-2028-CD
Deposited: March 17, 2026.
Status: in the Housing, Habitat and Building Commission.
3. Modernization of the condominium ownership system
Current file 05386-2024-2028-CD, previous file 04357-2024-2028-CD.
First deposit: June 10, 2025.
Reintroduced: March 12, 2026.
Status: in the Housing, Habitat and Building Commission.
Real Estate
1. Real estate intermediation and misleading advertising
Exp. base 01334-2026-PLO-SE, merged with 01305 and 01327.
Deposits: January 20, 28 and 29, 2026.
Status: approved by the Senate and sent to the Chamber of Deputies.
2. Condominium ownership regime
Exp. 05386-2024-2028-CD.
Origin: June 10, 2025; reintroduced on March 12, 2026.
Status: on commission.
3. Investment promotion
Current Exp. 01396-2026-PLO-SE.
Reintroduced: February 19, 2026, after a trajectory that began in 2024.
Status: approved by the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
4. Expropriation of real estate for public utility or social interest
Exp. 01299-2026-PLO-SE.
Deposited: January 19, 2026.
Status: in the Justice and Human Rights Commission.
The legislative landscape, therefore, does not reveal a single pending real estate reform. It reveals several pieces that address different parts of the market: who can act as an intermediary in a transaction, how condominium ownership is regulated, how investment is protected or conditioned, how existing buildings are regularized, and under what regime properties can be expropriated.
And there is an important difference between the two agendas: the real estate agenda already has a bill that passed the Senate and is in the Chamber of Deputies, while in construction the regularization and maintenance initiatives are still in committee.
It is up to lawmakers to decide what regulatory changes could come to the market before the end of 2026.
