Real Estate Board Approves Registration of 150 Additional Practitioners

The Real Estate Board approved the registration of an additional 150 practitioners, 18 real estate dealers and 132 salesmen for the year 2005/06. This has increased the number of registered dealers to 679 and salesmen up to 1,225.
For the same period, the Real Estate Board also issued licences to 647 real estate practitioners. Of this number, 305 were issued for the practice of real estate dealers, while 342 were for practice as real estate salesmen.
According to the Ministry of Local Government and Environment Performance Report for 2005/06, tabled in the House last week by Minister Dean Peart, the Real Estate Board was created to protect the mutual interest of persons who enter into land transactions.
It fulfills its mandate by “regulating and controlling limited liability companies, members of partnerships who engage in the business of real estate, whether as dealers, property appraisers, auctioneers, property managers or salesmen employed to dealers”, the Report states.
“This is done through a system of registration in a permanent register, and by issuing licences to practise upon payment of the prescribed fee,” the document adds.
For 2006/07, the Real Estate Board is planning the registration of development schemes and developers who undertake schemes of six units and over, and the monitoring of all development schemes that are six units and over.
According to the Report, there will be “maintenance of registration of dealers and salesmen as well as monitoring of their activities”, and the Board will be “monitoring purchasers’ deposits under payment contract”.
Other plans include, “the investigation of all complaints against real estate practitioners lodged to the Board and the registration of Executive Committees of Strata plans by the Commission of Strata Corporations”.
In the meantime, the Real Estate Board is to ensure that new entrants to the real estate business are properly trained, and that continuing education courses are conducted for practising dealers and salesmen.
The Board will be designing courses and written material to keep the industry informed and current and will be training the staff to ensure a high level of professionalism.
“To meet the demands of industry personnel, an Auctioneering Manual was written and published. This manual will also be used in Auctioneering module which is being developed for real estate dealers and salesmen. A Property Management module was also designed for practitioners already in the field,” notes the Report.
It added that a Committee of the Board was mandated to design the details of this course (Property Management module). The Board has also endorsed a course for dealers and salesmen, which is currently being offered at the University of Technology.
“Three upgrading seminars were conducted to improve the services offered by real estate dealers and salesmen who had gained their registration based on experience. Participation in this seminar was a prerequisite for the renewal of practising licences for these persons,” the Report says.