The Real Estate Agents and Brokers Bill was on Thursday evening passed in the National Assembly providing a regulatory framework for a sector that has long had a gap.
According to its Expla-natory Memorandum, Part II of the Bill provides for the interpretation of the practice of real estate business. Clause 5 provides for the circumstances in which a person would be considered to be engaging in real estate business while Clause 6 provides a list of persons who are not regarded as engaging in real estate business.
Part III of the Bill sets out the registration process for persons who wish to engage in real estate business including the application process for registration, the qualifications that are to be satisfied in order to be registered and the circumstances under which a person would not be registered.
Clause 15 sets out a prohibition on persons being registered and operating as a broker before January Ist, 2026 or a date to be set by order.
Part IV of the Bill provides for the Guyana Real Estate Agents Authority. Clause 21 and 22 establishes the Real Estate Agents Authority and sets out the membership of the Authority.
Part V provides for the Licensing of Brokers and Real Estate Agents, such as the application process for a licence.
Part VI provides for professional misconduct as clause 40 seeks to define what would be considered professional misconduct by a real estate agent.
Part VII deals with the duties and obligations of a persons involved in real estate business.
Part VIII provides for a Disciplinary Committee whilst Part XI provides for the procedures for a disciplinary proceeding.
Clause 67 makes it an offence for a person who is not a broker or real estate agent to receive or handle client’s money. Clause 69 sets out general penalties for other offences created in the Act.
Part XI provides for certain miscellaneous matters, such as requiring agreements between real estate agents and clients to be in writing, in order to avoid any schisms in terms of verbal agreements and understanding.
Clause 72 empowers the Authority to make Rules, subject to the approval of the Minister, prescribing forms, fees and other matters relating to registration. Clause 73 empowers the Minister to establish, by Order, a Code of Ethics for real estate agents.
Prior to the passage of the bill, Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall told the National Assembly that the real estate sector which generates billions annually through the sale and leasing of properties was without any regulation.
According to Nandlall, with the growth in Guy-ana’s economy along with the increase in foreign and local investments particularly in the oil and gas sector and in the hospitality and accommodation industry the sale and rental of properties have increased significantly enlarging the industry even further.
He pointed out that two international companies in real estate operations have established offices in Guyana.
“Over the years’ citizens across this land can relate to unfortunate experiences and fraud to which they have been subject at the hands of persons holding themselves out as real estate agents, these persons have no prescribed qualifications, are not supervised by any authority neither are there any regulatory framework within which they are to operate”, he said.
Nandlall added that there is no fixed rate to determine how they are to be remunerated for their services, “significantly no rules exist which stipulate how they are to be retained nor a code of conduct which they are bound (by), it is simply a free for all” which has led to arbitrary conduct, exploitative practices, unfair and irregular dealings, fraud and illegalities.
From a financial and accounting perspective, there is no regulatory framework and no effective supervision, monitoring, or accountable regime for the type of transaction conducted “and the revenues generated therefrom” with state agencies such as the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Financial Intelligence Unit have no institutional mechanism in place to audit, monitor, supervise or verify the affairs of this multi-million dollar sector, “in this modern age this state of affairs is completely unacceptable.”
Further, Nandlall said the real estate sector was flagged as a weak link in Guyana’s anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism framework, however, the bill is expected to correct this weakness in time for the impending assessment which the country’s financial systems in September 2023 by assessors from the Caribbean Financial Action Taskforce in a mutual evaluation exercise.
