In an interview with Biznis.rs, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Klaster Nekretnine Association, Nenad Đorđević, talks about the most important changes and amendments to the Law on Real Estate Brokerage and Leasing, as well as the half-yearly report of the State Geodetic Institute (RGZ) on the real estate market in our country.
The amendments to the law foresee a kind of “return” of agency contracts as a form of engagement of real estate agents, as well as the obligation for intermediaries to receive deposits into fiduciary accounts.
The amendments prescribe that a real estate agent can conclude a representation contract with the client. This contract, which must be in writing, establishes the right to compensation (commission) of the agent who concludes such a contract on behalf of the client and also regulates the mutual rights, obligations and responsibilities of the agent, in accordance with the relevant law.
“Also, the real estate agent can receive funds from the client for safekeeping that should exclusively be deposited in a fiduciary account in the bank”, Đorđević adds.
“Accepting a deposit to secure the execution of a real estate deal can currently only be done in cash and that is a commercial offence,” Đorđević explains.
In terms of the Serbian real estate market, the RGZ assessed in its current report that covers the first half of the year that the trend of market stabilization and calming down continued after two years of extremely dynamic growth that followed the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
“There is no room for higher prices considering that there was a slight drop in turnover and a drastic drop in the number of approved housing loans which will contribute to the market stabilization in the next three to six months,” he adds.
Đorđević expects that the Serbian market will pick up pace when interest rates drop – more specifically, Euribor.
“Realistically speaking, that can happen only in the summer of next year,” says Đorđević.
(Biznis.rs, 28.09.2023)
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