On September 1, 1988, the Jamaica Real Estate (Dealers and Developers) Act 1987 came into effect.
Broadly speaking, the two main objects of the law are:
1) The licensing, regulation and control of people who are engaged in the real estate business as merchants or sellers of real estate.
2) The regulation of land transactions in Jamaica in development plans.
The Jamaica Real Estate Board
This Law establishes the Real Estate Board, which is the statutory corporation created specifically to administer the provisions of the Law. The condition of the Board is such that before the Minister issues regulations, it must 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 in particular in accordance with the terms of the corresponding law.
The Annex to the Law prescribes the constitution and operating procedure of the Board. It describes the functions, duties and responsibilities of the Board of Directors and requires that the Board of Directors account for its activities.
The decisions of the Board are not necessarily final and conclusive and certain decisions regarding the registration of distributors, sellers and developers are subject to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
The Board is required to provide each applicant under the Act an opportunity to be heard if the application denial is being considered. The role and powers of Board inspectors are discussed below.
Inspectors
Matters related to the appointment and powers of real estate inspectors with regard to monitoring.
The powers of the inspectors are quite broad and consist of
(i) Request information
(ii) Require presentation 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 reasonable grounds before an Inspector will directly produce a document
3) Requires an inspector to present their ID card upon request
4) Makes an order issued by a justice of the peace a precondition for entering the premises.
It should be noted that the Inspectors do not act on their own but as representatives of the Board in order to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Law and help the Board in the performance of its functions.
Regulation of the real estate business
Nature of the real estate business
Describe what is meant by “the practice of the real estate business” for the purposes of the Act. Understanding this is important because control of the real estate activity is one of the main purposes of the Act. This means that not everyone can get up and start to advertise homes for sale in Kingston Jamaica.
The practice of the real estate business involves carrying out a series of land-related activities on behalf of another person in exchange for some form of reward or benefit (monetary or otherwise), that is, valuable compensation or consideration . Not all categories of such activities are necessarily considered Jamaican-owned businesses under the Act and it excludes certain categories of persons from necessarily coming within the scope of the Act, briefly these are:
1. Lawyers (that is, persons with power to act by virtue of a power of attorney)
2. Lawyers who act in the field of their profession
3. Court officials
4. Persons with certain duties with respect to Jamaican property, for example, administrators (of deceased estates), executors of wills, trustees (for example, in relation to businesses), trustees.
5. People who take care of land that they partly own
6. Other public officials in the performance of their official functions
7. Building managers with regard to the rental of units in the corresponding complex.