Members of the REAC Board and the Chief of Staff in a pose shortly after the opening of the new office
GOVERNMENT has handed over a newly constructed headquarters building to the Real Estate Agency Council (REAC) since its establishment nearly four years ago.
Parliament in 2020 passed the Real Estate Agency Act, 2020 (Act 1047), creating the Real Estate Agency Council (REAC), tasked with the responsibility of regulating the sector while ensuring fairness and transparency in real estate transactions.
At a brief handing-over ceremony held in Accra to officially launch the new office, Board Chair for the Council, Kojo Addo-Kuffuor expressed that the successful implementation of the Real Estate Agency Council would positively impact government’s efforts in revenue mobilization, title verification, anti-money laundering, etc.”
He also disclosed that the Council would introduce innovations such as the requirement for licensed agents to open dedicated client escrow accounts to segregate third party funds from their own money.
“Any individual or entity that seeks to legally provide real estate agency services will either have to come to this address or register online to be verified and licensed”, he announced.
The Council, he went on, would not open offices across the country, but rather, a robust online platform will be provided to capture the details of service providers and continually engage with them online and leverage technology to minimize human intervention.
This, he explained, was in line with the government’s digitalization agenda.
“Licensed operators will be required to record and provide details of property transactions that they are involved in for onward transmission to the appropriate agencies”, he stated.
Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, Madam Akosua Frema Osei-Opare iterated that the new office space marksgovernment’s efforts to regulate and standardize the real estate sector in the country.
“The establishment of the Real Estate Agency Council and subsequently the provision of office space, represents a crucial step forward in our efforts to regulate and standardize the real estate market. By providing oversight and guidance to industry professionals, the Council will ensure that ethical standards are upheld, transactions are conducted transparently, and the interests of all stakeholders are protected and empowered,” she said.
Minister for Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah,intimated that the establishment of the REAC office symbolised government’s commitment tobringing some form of order in the real estate sector, adding thatwith a known operating space, the Council can now set out to work as mandated.
He assured that the incidence of unfortunate developments such as uncontrolled pricing, fraud, and high-risk transactions which posed a huge challenge to the citizenry owing to the lack of regulation and professional standards in the sector would soon be a thing of the past, insisting that the passage of the Real Estate Agency Act 2020 (Act 1047) and the consequenct establishment ofREAC were crucial steps towards ensuring transparency, accountability, and professionalism in the industry.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio