Registration as a Real Estate Agent in the Valencian Community
Patrick2024-01-24T17:36:42+00:00The happy hour for estate agents in the Valencian Community is over. Registration as a real estate agent in the Valencian Community has been compulsory.
Since more than 20 years ago, when being a Real estate agent was liberalised, any Spanish or foreign person without training, who wanted to intervene in the sale and purchase of a property in the Valencian Community and charge for it, could do so.
This has had a negative impact on the profession of estate agents, attracting pirates and dishonest opportunists.
The government of the Valencian community wanted to put an order in the real estate sector and give guarantees to buyers and sellers, and has published in the DOGV on the 16th of August, the DECREE 98/2022, of the 29th of July.
From the 16th of October 2022, all estate agents who want to sell properties in the provinces of Alicante, Valencia or Castellon must apply for registration as real estate agents of the Valencian Community.
And they will have to fulfil specific requirements.
Registration is compulsory; from that date onwards, estate agents will have 12 months to prove that they meet the requirements.
Necessary: The Register will be accessible with a digital certificate on the institutional website of the Valencian Community on this link.
What are the requirements for registration as a Real Estate agent in the Valencian Community?
1 – Location requirements
A person acting as a real estate agent in the Valencian Community must have an establishment open to the public unless the services are provided exclusively at a distance by electronic or telematic means.
Persons providing services exclusively by electronic or telematic means must have a physical address in the Valencian Community.
In these establishments, or at the physical address of the person providing services by electronic means, enquiries, complaints and claims from consumers and users about the intermediary services must deal with.
As agents, they must state information relating to their professional identification, location, name of the insurer or financial institution, reference number of the guarantee and their registration number in registration as real estate agents in the mandate contract or mandate note they sign with their clients.
Necessary for registration as a Real Estate Agent
Estate agents who have an office outside the Valencian Community but sell houses in the Valencian Community are not obliged to register. However, suppose they cannot prove registration in their corresponding autonomous community. In that case, they must inform the registry of the Valencian Community of the operations they carry out in the Valencian Community.
2 – Professional qualification requirements
Individuals acting as estate agents in the provinces of Alicante, Valencia and Castellon must provide proof of professional qualification to carry out the activity.
There are three ways of accrediting qualification:
1. To own the official title of Real Estate Agent.
If applicable, accredit membership of the corresponding Official Association of Real Estate Agents (API) or accredit not being a member.
These people will not have to do anything because the same association will massively register its members.
2. Hold a university degree in Social and Legal Sciences, Engineering or Architecture.
This training must be certified, where appropriate, with the corresponding university degree.
3. Holders of certificates of attendance and completion of academic training courses of at least 200 teaching hours in real estate matters related to mediation, consultancy and service management, whether in the classroom, distance or virtual mode, issued by public education centres, private universities or centres with agreements with the Public Administrations or other entities whose statutes include training as one of their aims.
The Association of Estate Agents is preparing a specific course so that all professionals who wish to do so can receive the training required by the regulations.
3 – Solvency requirements
1. Take out a bank guarantee
To protect the money that clients have paid to the estate agent by the following conditions:
The minimum guarantee or surety insurance for each agent shall be 60,000 euros per establishment open to the public and per year of coverage.
Suppose the real estate agent carries out his activity exclusively by telematic means. In that case, the minimum amount of this guarantee shall be 300,000 euros per agent and year of service.
2. Take out professional civil liability insurance
or any other financial guarantee that covers, throughout the territory of the European Union, the liabilities that may arise due to professional negligence.
The capital to be insured by the policy shall be determined by regulation, considering the number of establishments each agent keeps open to the public.
The insurance policy may be individual or, in the case of collegiate or associated agents, the collective approach taken out by the professional association to which they belong.
2.1. The policy may be taken out by insurance companies established in Spain or in any European Union Member State.
It may also be contracted through the association of Real Estate Agents located in the Valencian Community to which the interested party is a practising member or through the professional or business associations to which the interested parties belong.
2.2. The minimum civil liability insurance for each agent will be 600,000 euros per claim and a year of insurance with a sub-limit of 150,000 euros per victim.
2.3. If the estate agent carries out his activity exclusively by telematic means, the minimum amount of civil liability insurance shall be 1,000,000 euros per claim and insurance year with a sub-limit of 150,000 euros per victim.
Real estate agents will have to provide the policy number
and the name of the insurance company, or the guaranteed number and the name of the financial institution for guarantees, when requested to do so, and shall also state this in the mandate contract or the commissioning note.
All guarantees required as a solvency requirement may be constituted individually or collectively through professional associations.
At Asesoria Orihuela Costa, we can help you register real estate agents in the Valencian Community. You can also contact the college of real estate agents in Alicante.
We will keep you informed.
How to know if a real estate agent is registered in the registry of real estate agents of the Valencian Community?
The registration of estate agents in the Valencian Community has caused a lot of concern and stress to estate agents, especially foreigners.
But knowing how to do it is very easy to register. The most important thing is to get the 3 things you need:
- Bank guarantee
- Take out civil liability insurance
- Proof of training
There are many people who ask us if an agent is registered or not.
Well, in this link you can check if a real estate agent is registered or not in the registry of real estate agents of the Valencian Community. You just have to inform the province and town.