On September 1, 1988, the Jamaica Real Estate (Dealers and Developers) Act 1987 came into force.
Broadly speaking, the two main objects of the Law are:
1) The license, regulation and control of persons engaged in the real estate business as merchants or real estate sellers.
2) The regulation of transactions in Jamaican land in development schemes.
The Jamaica Real Estate Board
This Law establishes the Real Estate Board, which is the statutory corporation specifically created to administer the provisions of the Law. The status of the Board is such that before the Minister issues certain Regulations, he is obliged to consult with the Board. This body, although it has broad powers in relation to its various functions, like any other statutory body, must act within the general provisions of the law and particularly in accordance with the terms of the respective Law.
The Schedule to the Act prescribes the constitution and operation of the Board. It describes the functions, duties and responsibilities of the Board and requires the board to account for its activities.
The Board’s decisions are not necessarily final and conclusive and certain decisions relating to the registration of dealers, vendors and developers are subject to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
The Board must provide all applicants under the Act with an opportunity to be heard if the application is being considered for denial. The role and powers of the Board Inspectors are discussed below.
inspectors
Matters relating to the appointment and powers of real estate inspectors in regard to surveillance.
The powers of inspectors are quite broad and consist of power to
(i) Request information
(ii) Require the production of documents
(iii) Enter and search premises, subject to court order
These powers must be exercised in a reasonable manner and it will be observed that the Law:
1) Allow time for the requested information to be provided
2) Requires that reasonable grounds exist before an Inspector orders the production of the document.
3) Requires an Inspector to present their identification card upon request
4) Makes a warrant issued by a justice of the peace a precondition for entering the facility.
It should be noted that the Inspectors do not act on their own behalf but as representatives of the Board in order to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Law and assist the Board in the performance of its duties.
Regulation of the Real Estate Business
Nature of the Real Estate Business
Describing what is meant by “the practice of the real estate business” for the purposes of the Law. Understanding this is important because the control of real estate businesses is one of the main purposes of the Law. This means that not everyone can get up and start advertising houses for sale in Kingston Jamaica.
The practice of real estate business involves carrying out a series of activities related to land on behalf of another person in exchange for some type of reward or benefit (monetary or otherwise), that is, compensation or valuable consideration. Not all categories of such activities are necessarily considered Jamaican owned businesses under the Act and exclude certain categories of persons from necessarily coming within the scope of the Act, briefly these are:
1. Lawyers (i.e. persons empowered to act under a power of attorney)
2. Lawyers acting in the exercise of their profession
3. Judicial officials
4. Persons with certain duties in respect of Jamaican property, eg administrators (of estates of deceased persons), executors of wills, trustees (eg in relation to companies), trustees.
5. Persons who trade in land that they partially own
6. Other public officials in the exercise of their official functions
7. Building managers with respect to the rental of units in the applicable complex.