The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is preparing amendments to the legislation regulating the activities of realtors. This was announced by the head of the parliamentary Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning Olena Shulyak during a telethon.
According to her, today clients often pay significant commissions for services of dubious quality. At the same time, the state does not have accurate data on the number of specialists working in this market. According to various estimates, there may be from 45 to 80 thousand realtors in Ukraine, while representatives of the professional community claim that there are no more than 2–3 thousand such specialists in the entire country.
A working group has been created in the specialized committee to develop legislative amendments. In particular, the issue of who exactly can be considered a realtor is being discussed, whether mandatory accreditation is required, and whether a state register should be created. It is assumed that citizens will be able to check whether a specific person has the right to provide such services – by analogy with notaries or lawyers.
A separate block of changes concerns the definition of clear responsibilities of a realtor. According to Shulyak, during the discussion it turned out that the list of such responsibilities includes dozens of positions.
“When we started now, you know, to prescribe in such detail what a realtor does, it turned out that there are dozens of questions that he must definitely fulfill, do when he provides a service to his client. Well, first of all, check the owner of the apartment, whether he is really the owner, whether he is an identified person, whether there is any fraud. Then look, maybe there is a ban on this real estate object. Maybe it is under litigation. By the way, not all people who provide services in this area can check these documents and know who to contact and how to collect this information,” Shulyak noted.
In Kyiv, according to the deputy, there were cases when housing was sold or rented without a permanent connection to the networks.
In addition, the duties should include checking the place of registration of minor children, since under Ukrainian law their rights are subject to special protection. If a child is registered in an apartment, alienation or transfer of it for rent requires additional permits.
The parliament plans to develop a mechanism that will determine the rules of operation in the real estate market: who can be a realtor, how to obtain the appropriate status, what services he is obliged to provide and what responsibility he will bear to the client. According to Shulyak, people should not pay for services that were not actually provided.
