The Government will create a mandatory register of property agents

The bill, which will be approved by decree, aims to combat intrusion, protect consumers and determine who operates in the real estate sector.

We share this information from EFE News published in the digital edition of Diario de Mallorca:

«The Government of the Balearic Islands will require, by decree, the registration of the 2,000 real estate agents (APIS) operating in the Balearic Islands in a regional register in order to control who operates in this sector, fight against intrusion and protect consumers, whether they are buyers or sellers of property.

The Minister of Mobility and Housing, Marc Pons, met yesterday in Palma with the three associations of this sector (ABSI, APIS and ABAI) to analyze the content of the future decree, which will be approved next year 2020. The associations have praised this initiative of the Executive to put order in the sector of APIS in the Balearic Islands, which is not regulated in Spain, and "give maximum guarantees" to citizens who want to buy or sell their homes through these professionals.

Real estate agents must have a minimum of training, be registered in the aforementioned public register, adhere to a code of ethics and have civil liability insurance. "Any person cannot operate as an API, thus devaluing the sector," stressed the Minister before defending the "important" need for this regulation immediately.

From now on, the Regional Ministry and the associations will work to define the training criteria for professionals working in the Balearic Islands, the establishment of a code of ethics and the guarantee that the consumer can either go to a specific office or have the possibility of contacting the professional directly at any time. The economic solvency must also be guaranteed, so APIS must have civil responsibility insurance.

The president of the Association of Real Estate Agents of the Balearic Islands (API), Natalia Bueno, said that only 10% of the 2,000 professionals in the sector are associated with this or any other professional body.

The rest are "completely out of control, without liability insurance, or guarantee and without any kind of knowledge, although some of them have large offices and give a feeling of great solvency," he said. Bueno recalled the great real estate scam that took place in the Balearic Islands two summers ago when plots were sold that "were not even" in the hands of those agents: "In Europe this sector is regulated, it can not be that here in the Balearic Islands campi qui pugui," he said.

The situation is even worse in the summer, for example in Ibiza, where "there is a proliferation of foreign sellers, from all over Europe, who come to make a killing by buying and renting homes and then disappear," he criticised.

For his part, the president of the Balearic Association of Real Estate Advisors (ABAI), Francisco Sanfrancisco, said that the most important investment a person usually makes in his life is the purchase of his home, so he must have the advice of "accredited" professionals. And the president of the Balearic Association of Real Estate Services (ABSI), Toni Gayà, considered it "very important" that the buyer or seller, has "guarantee of security" in its operation and, moreover, "feel that behind is the Balearic Government. »

Original article: Los dos mil agentes de la propiedad de Baleares deberán inscribirse en un registro autonómico