The Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), a division of the Land Department, today warned brokers against failing to comply with the rules requiring them to seek approval before running any form of direct marketing campaign.
The move aims in particular to curb unlicensed brokers sending unsolicited often inaccurate SMS sales messages to the public.
RERA’s warning follows complaints from individuals who have been the target of SMS campaigns. The Agency strictly monitors and enforces compliance with the rules which prohibit unlicensed brokers or individuals from marketing real estate and stipulates the information they should communicate.
Yousef Al Hashemi, Head of RERA’s Licensing Department, said: ‘Our priority is to ensure the campaigns are legitimate and not misleading. This Department is required to pre-approve all such marketing communications and there is the added restrictions that campaigns can be run only by companies which are licensed to do so.
‘We monitor, check and inspect. Licensing is the key and we work with the Economic Department, the licensing authority, to try and ensure we are effective in persuading brokers to comply with the rules.
‘This is a continuing process built on the twin pillars of licensing and registration. Failure to comply could mean the loss of a licence or registration not being renewed. The rules are clear and should be rigorously enforced in order to protect buyers and investors. For our part we routinely check all requests for permission to run campaigns.
We would also urge buyers and investors to be careful about the brokers they deal with. We have stressed in the past that they should deal only with licensed brokers since they have recourse against these if anything goes wrong and they are answerable to RERA. We cannot deal with complaints against unlicensed brokers.
‘Buyers should make sure the broker meets all requirements and should be wary if the information they receive fails to include basic details such as the brokerage’s registration number.” Sultan Al Suwaidi, Head of the Department’s Licensing Section, added a second warning. He said: ‘These campaigns should only be run by companies or firms and not individuals. Customers should always be cautious when faced with campaigns run by individuals. RERA supports the licensed brokers it registers and customers and other professionals alike can be confident the broker’s RERA registration offers certain basic guarantees.
