Lawyers find issues in real estate law

It will be very difficult for the Housing Bureau to supervise the real estate industry considering its present structure and human resources, local lawyers warn in a paper

Two local lawyers have urged the government to review the structure of the Housing Bureau (IH), in order to ensure the proper enforcement of the new law regarding real estate activity.
In a paper published by International Law Office.com, lawyers Frederico Rato and Pedro Cortés expressed their doubts about how the new law would be enforced.
“We have some doubts about the enforcement of the new law on real estate activity considering the current organic law of the IH, its objectives and aims,” Rato told Macau Daily Times.
IH’s primary aim is to assist low-income families on solving their housing problems. It is also in charge of defining and implementing Macau’s housing policies. However the new bill gives IH power to oversee real estate intermediaries and their activities.
Rato argued that without giving a face-lift to IH’s organic law it would be difficult for the bureau to fulfil its new mission as set in the draft law. “IH’s organic law must be revised so it can supervise these activities,” he added.
Furthermore, the two lawyers foresee a problem of human resources shortage in the bureau, in order to control the activity of property realtors and agents. “There is a lack of human resources with knowledge in the area of real estate in the bureau,” Cortés stressed.
The “most important aspects” of the bill are still unknown, they said. “The majority of the articles are referring to complementary legal documents that will be disclosed [only] after the law is approved,” Rato said.

Unknown features

For instance lawyers want to know what the criteria would be to assess real estate agent suitability and the competence requirements upon application for a professional licence. The rights and duties of realtors and agents will also be disclosed in another complementary legal document only after the law is in force, they complained.
MDTimes tried to get a comment from IH but received no reply up until the closing of this edition.
The law on real estate is currently being discussed at the Legislative Assembly and is aimed at ensuring the stability, security and transparency of property transactions, as well as to better safeguard consumer rights.
For that reason it introduces new qualification requirements for agents and realtors so that they can improve their skills. They will also have to apply for a professional licence and attend professional training courses.
“The introduction of suitability and competence requirements for real estate agents is unquestionably a beneficial step, but requires an enforcement effort that is perhaps beyond the capability of IH,” they wrote.
Lawyers also warned that too much emphasis is being placed on the information duties of the agents in the real estate sector. With this, they added, “the legislature seems to have overlooked the fact that any real estate agent who lacks the skills required by law is unlikely to draw the bureau’s attention to this fact”.