Real Estate Practitioners Reminded to Pay Fees by September 30

Real estate practitioners who have not already paid their annual licence fees in full are being reminded to do so by September 30 to avoid delinquency.

As prescribed by the law, dealers and salesmen are required to pay the respective fees in full by March 30 of each year or in half-year instalments, the first by March 30 and the second by September 30.

Speaking with JIS News recently, Chief Operations Officer (COO) of the Real Estate Board, Cresfroid Brown, said payment on time facilitates the timely processing of applications.

He reiterated that the renewal of licences allows professionals to earn income legitimately and avoid breaching Section 10 of the Real Estate (Dealers and Developers) Act, which speaks to conducting real estate business without a licence.

Mr. Brown also cautioned that any practitioner who conducts business without valid authorisation may be charged with a criminal offence and tried in the courts.

He said payment can be made in three ways.

“The preferred way is via the Board’s Client Portal located at https://clientportal.reb.gov.jm/. This allows persons to make payment online using any Visa or MasterCard. The second method is via Scotiabank or NCB online bill payment, where the Real Estate Board is listed as a payee on both platforms. For this method, the payee must have his or her licence number readily available,” the COO advised.

The third option is an in-office payment at 24 Trafalgar Road, Kingston 10.

He said persons who were not able to make a payment in April can pay the full amount this time around and receive their licence.

“Persons who should have renewed their licence in April and now intend to make payment would have incurred a penalty on their respective licence fees for late payment. The penalty amount incurred would be 50 per cent of the first instalment or 25 per cent of the total annual fee,” Mr. Brown said.