A state register to include all the professional real estate agents is to be created in the Republic of Moldova. The persons who will not be in this register will not be able to work as a real estate agent. At the same time, the persons will not be able to work as a real estate agent if they hadn’t attended a training course to acquire the necessary professional skills. The given proposals are stipulated in a draft law that was presented by MPs of the Party of Action and Solidarity, IPN reports.
MP Radu Marian told a press briefing that in the recent years, there has been a major increase in the prices of apartments and other buildings. This causes concern in society, especially among young people who want to have property of their own. It is necessary to encourage new constructions to increase the supply, but also to promote state programs such as the First Home. However, one of the main solutions is to ensure enhanced order and regulation on the real estate agents’ market.
“Lately, we have received a lot of complaints from citizens about the work of particular real estate agents, who charge exaggerated commissions. They add thousands of euros to the price of a property, which is unacceptable. We were also notified of the lack of transparency of some agents. The contractual conditions weren’t stipulated anywhere. We were notified of cases in which the agents use falsehoods about the state of the apartment or the degree of completion of the apartment building,” stated Radu Marian.
MP Marina Morozova said that, according to statistics, an average of 20,000 apartments or houses are sold annually in Chisinau alone, and 60% of these transactions are made with the help of real estate agents. The volume of investments in new apartments in Chisinau alone last year was €490 million. Given such a picture, the regulation of the work of real estate agents is pressing.
The proposed draft stipulates the obligation to provide services exclusively on the basis of a contract with the client, concluded in written form. The verbal agreement concluded today cannot provide citizens with high-quality services and protection. The contract must include elements such as the nature of the services provided by the real estate agent, fees, commissions, rights and obligations of the parties, whether the brokerage services were subcontracted or not and the conditions under which the contract can be terminated.
“The taxation of the services of real estate agents is an important part. Here, we are talking about the real estate agent’s obligation to provide a receipt for all the payments collected from clients in accordance with the concluded contract. At the same time, we propose creating the electronic register of real estate transactions. Thus, each real estate transaction that will be carried out with the help of a real estate agent is to be included in this register. And each agent will be obliged to enter in his personal tax office information about the address of the real estate, the cadastral number, the price of property, the area, but also the size of commission,” stated Marina Morozova.
The draft law will be presented for public consultations and will be then examined and approved by the responsible commissions and by Parliament.
