Bill approved to regulate real estate sector

The Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Hon Jonny Osei Kofi has indicated that government has approved a Bill which will regulate the real estate sector in Ghana.

This was made known at a real estate conference organized by property expert, Lamudi Ghana yesterday on the theme, “The Future of Real Estate in Emerging Markets”.

According to Hon Osei Kofi, the Bill is meant to streamline the real estate industry with respect to real estate brokerage practitioners to protect the interest of house-hunters. He pointed out that the Bill will soon be laid before Parliament to be passed into law.

“Government is working assiduously to come out with a Bill to control the sector. The main objective of this Bill is to regulate real estate brokerage practice and practitioners, real estate transactions as well as prevent the use of real estate transactions for the purposes of money laundering and other vices,” Hon Osei Kofi stressed.

He also added that the Bill will establish a Real Estate Agency Authority to regulate real estate agency practice, commercial transactions in real estate including the sale, purchase, rental and leasing of real estate.

This comes as welcoming news to the many house-hunters in Ghana who sometimes go through bad experiences with real estate agents in their quest to acquire a home.

Speaking on the proposed Housing Policy, the Deputy Minister indicated that it had been finalized and sent to cabinet for approval. It was his expectation that it would soon be approved and sent to Parliament for passage into law.

“On the matter of the new Housing Policy, I am happy to inform you that the new Housing Policy has been finalized and sent to cabinet for approval.

“Upon cabinet approval, the next step is for it to be laid before Parliament to be passed into law,” he announced.

Ghana currently has a housing deficit of approximately 1.7 million units and stakeholders within the industry have been looking to close the housing gap while looking to provide decent homes for the citizenry.

As part of its mandate, Lamudi Ghana has set the objective of organizing periodic real estate conferences to shed light on some of the problems while providing a platform for solutions to improve the industry.

Managing Director of Lamudi Ghana, Akua Nyame-Mensah, expressed her delight at the second of such functions organized and reiterated the call for a more transparent real estate industry.

“Lamudi is concerned with increased transparency and we believe that the government’s efforts in drafting a Bill to regulate the real estate industry is a step in the right direction.

“It will not only be in the interest of house-hunters to have this enacted into Law, but that of real estate professionals too, as it will improve the confidence reposed in them, thereby, leading to more sales.

The real estate conference brought together many stakeholders in the real estate industry including the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, GREDA, Windzor Realty, Ghana Prime Properties, Orel Ghana, The Realty Connection GH Ltd, Isaac Anthony Homes, Ankacorp and a number of other real estate brokers and developers.

The real estate conference was made possible kind courtesy of MTN.