Qatar Real Estate News
New law underway to scrap unlicensed real estate agencies, brokers
Unlicensed real estate agencies and individuals freelancing as property brokers may soon be taken to task in Doha. A law aimed to regulate real estate agencies and property developers will soon be implemented. The law is currently being discussed by the Advisory Council.
According to sources an association of real estate agents is being established to additionally help in streamlining the real estate market and getting rid of illegal operators.
The paperwork required to form the association is ready. Such a measure would help the banks that are currently facing the problem of lack of property evaluators. The need for such a law was felt when the number of cases of fraud committed by real estate firms who doubled up as property brokers, increased in the courts.
Several companies take apartment buildings on packaged monthly rents from the owners, giving them post-dated cheques. These apartments are then sublet at lower rents to individual tenants and advance rents are collected from them in cash. The post-dated cheques given to the owners’ are never honoured.
Similarly, there have been cases of individuals working as freelance agents during the period of housing scarcity, charging hefty commissions from tenants.
The draft of the proposed new legislation makes it mandatory that only companies owned by nationals will be granted license to operate the agencies, and the Manager of such a company will have to be a national.
The expatriates authorized by such companies will either operate individually as real estate brokers, or they would be under a company sponsorship.
The move has been much hailed by legal circles and property owners, as they consider such a law to be the need of the hour.
Posted on 4/3/2010
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