Real estate agent will be a licensed trade, the certificate will be issued by the ministry

The profession of real estate agent will no longer be an unrestricted trade as before, but a regulated profession. To practice it, a higher education in fields such as law, economics, finance, business, and construction will be required, or secondary education with relevant experience. This follows from the proposed law on real estate mediation, which will be discussed by the government in the coming weeks. The certificate of professional competence will be issued to applicants by the Ministry of Regional Development (MMR). In case of a violation of the law, agents face a fine of up to one million crowns or a ban on their activity.

"The initiative was primarily driven by recurring problems associated with the activities of real estate agents, which culminated in a situation where the Economic Committee of the Chamber of Deputies began to address this issue in cooperation with the MMR," states the explanatory report.

The MMR will issue certificates of professional competence based on the submitted documents regarding education and, if applicable, experience. The MMR will also maintain a list of professionally competent individuals, which will be publicly accessible on the ministry's website. In connection with this agenda, two new positions are expected to be created at the MMR.

According to the proposed law, real estate agents will be required to take out insurance in case they must compensate for damages caused by their activities. The insurance payout limit must be at least 3,000,000 crowns for each insured event. In the case of multiple insured events occurring within one year, this amount must be at least doubled.

If the real estate agent operates as a legal entity, its true owner must be a person of good character according to the law governing business activities. The integrity will be verified by the trade office, which, for these purposes, will allow the Ministry of Justice remote access to data about the actual owner.

In the event of a violation of the law, the agent faces a fine ranging from 50,000 crowns to one million. If the provision regarding the integrity of the owner of the legal entity is violated, the trade office may impose a ban on this company’s activity.