Laws needed to better police real estate sector

President of the Barbados Estate Agents and Valuers Association (BEAVA) Arthur Ramsay has welcomed the introduction of the Compliance Unit, saying it should play a great role in helping to weed out any bad players in the local real estate market.

However, he told Barbados TODAY in an interview on Tuesday, that he still believed laws should be put in place to give BEAVA teeth to better govern and police the sector.

“I know the government has been doing a lot with the Financial Intelligence Unit and Compliance Unit in terms of trying to monitor transactions and what is happening with transactions and who is doing the transactions to [eliminate] money laundering and make sure the use of money is being monitored. That has helped in some factors but in some factors it has hindered us how we police certain things,” he said.

“I do believe that if BEAVA and our real estate body are given more teeth and oversight it would help to make things a lot better in the overall market because the challenge still is that many persons are out in the market unregulated, in terms of education, in terms of know how, and that can be a big issue when it comes to those type of things,” he explained.

Last November, representatives of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) launched the Compliance Unit, with the aim of strengthening the island’s fight against money laundering and terrorism financing.

The Compliance Unit provides an oversight for designated non-financial businesses and professions, which include real estate agents, attorneys, accountants, dealers in precious metals and other operators.

Ramsay, who remains as president of the association until the election later this month, said while the COVID-19 pandemic had put a spoke in the wheels of the organisation’s lobbying efforts and despite the introduction of the Compliance Unit, the lobbying will continue.

“We don’t want to hinder people’s operations . . .Quite the contrary. We want to make sure the average man can belong to an association that will give him the tools and resources to be the best real estate agent, valuer and/or property manager he can be.

“You can do that through knowledge. Knowledge is power. Not knowing what you are doing can be costly to you. You can end up in court or find yourself on the wrong side of the law. You might do something out of ignorance that is not in keeping with the norms of the industry or that is unethical,” he explained.

“The main thing for us is to make sure we continue to educate our members letting them know what is to happen, what are the international norms and standards,” he added.

Ramsay said over the last year the over 135-member association has been able to sign a memorandum of understanding with the National Association of Realtors in the US and that should foster greater bilateral exchange.

In addition to launching a revamped website and new logo, BEAVA has welcomed several new members, increased its outreach, formed more international relationships and ramped up its education and awareness seminars in the last year.

“We will continue to push our educational seminars and have more interaction with the general public and let them understand the importance of using a BEAVA agent,” he said. (MM)