According to Cedeño, the lack of legal certainty has resulted in a stagnation in the development of the real estate market and has caused rents to become more expensive.
SANTO DOMINGO.-The special commission of deputies studying the new rental law decided to create a specialized jurisdiction that will allow evictions of tenants who do not pay to be carried out within a maximum period of two months.
The new measure was decided by a majority vote, as a way to establish a more streamlined process for evicting delinquent tenants.
Deputy Eugenio Cedeño, president of the special commission studying the law, explained that the jurisdiction created by the legislation will allow the appointment of a justice of the peace and a special inspector who will be exclusively dedicated to tenancy matters, as reported today by Diario Libre.
The legislative representative explained that currently, the justices of the peace in the country "have a backlog of work" that prevents them from prioritizing disputes between owners and tenants, sometimes taking up to 10 years to be resolved in court.
"This new procedure will be agile, fast, innovative and guarantees for both parties (owner and tenant)," said the deputy who chairs the special commission.
According to the legislator, judicial delays in resolving tenant disputes hinder the real estate market in the Dominican Republic, leading to less investment by landlords and increased demands from tenants.
In that regard, he valued the willingness of the team he leads to create a special jurisdiction for tenancy and rents, since, until now, no regulations have addressed the problem.
According to Cedeño, the lack of legal certainty has resulted in a stagnation in the development of the real estate market and has caused rents to become more expensive.
In final stage
The chairman of the special committee assured, after meeting for two hours with his colleagues, that the report on the new rental law is "almost ready" to be presented to the chamber.
Therefore, he said that the commission is moving forward with its work and meetings to ensure that the project is approved before the end of the current congressional term, scheduled to conclude on January 12, 2024.
The bill to regulate rents was authored by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Pacheco. It was approved in its first reading on May 24th after being debated in a public consultation.
20 years
Achieving a balance between the rights of tenants versus property owners is one of the main dilemmas facing the General Law on Real Estate Rentals and Evictions in the National Congress.
The piece, which has been under study for about 20 years, would repeal Law No. 4314, of October 22, 1955, and Law No. 17-88, of February 5, 1988, and Decree No. 4807. The first law cited and the presidential opinion date from the Trujillo era.
The project aims to reform outdated regulations to stimulate domestic and foreign private investment in real estate development projects intended for rental. It seeks to have the government develop policies that facilitate the supply of housing units and, consequently, lower rental costs.
