New regulations on the cards for property industry

As the proliferation of apartment and townhouse complexes in Namibia continues unabated due to an ongoing housing crisis, many residents around the country inevitably end up belonging to a body corporate, which in turn appoints a property management company to cater for the maintenance needs of the respective properties. However, the Namibia Estate Agents Board (NEAB) yesterday confirmed that currently, no legislation exists to regulate the mushrooming property management companies.

Manager of the NEAB, Festus Unengu, explained to New Era that archaic legislation, the Namibia Estate Agents Act of 1976, still regulates the domestic property market. However, he emphasized that this legislation does not at all regulate property managers, property developers, property auctioneers and certainly not body corporates. Unengu clarified that through the industrialization and trade ministry as the custodian of the current Estate Agents Act, the NEAB embarked on the drafting of new legislation about five years ago to include all players in the property industry. “The new Bill was already submitted to the Cabinet Committee on Legislation, who instructed the NEAB to make changes to the legislative proposal. Now, we intend to resubmit the Bill for approval by May this year,” he stated.

Newspaper Article Link: https://neweralive.na/posts/new-regulations-on-the-cards-for-property-industry