Real estate groups push anew for RESA law tweaks

Property sector groups on Wednesday reiterated their call to amend the decade-old Real Estate Service Act of 2009 (RESA) in a bid to address the growing 6.5-million housing backlog.

In a virtual press conference on Thursday, Real Estate Brokers Association of the Philippines (REBAP) national board member Edwin Calamba said that the groups supports the call to amend the law, “not just for a select few but for the betterment of the whole industry.”

“RESA is not a perfect law; that is why it is subject to change. We, as an association, should remain receptive to changes in regulations,” he added.

Last month, A Better Real Estate Philippines (ABREP) movement filed a class action petition seeking declaratory relief to amend the RESA. 

During Wednesday’s press conference, ABREP president Anthony Leuterio reiterated his stance that the RESA is “a pre-automation law that does not serve the purpose it was intended to. It was supposed to professionalize the industry, but instead, it’s stopping the industry from progressing.”

Leuterio noted that each of the large real estate organizations, such as the Chamber of Real Estate Builders Associations (CREBA), the National Real Estate Association (NREA), the REBAP, the Organization of Socialized and Economic Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP), the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA) have united in the push for legislative change.

He said that ABREP has already reached out to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) regarding their proposed amendments and that they are awaiting further feedback.

“We are not alone in our call to amend RESA. Real estate practitioners and developers have all united to make this a better law for Filipinos. At ABREP, we believe that with their guidance, the next version of RESA will do much more to serve the Filipino,” he said.

CREBA, the largest organization of developers in the Philippines, has decried RESA’s Section 14 for what it calls “discriminatory scholastic requirements,” referring to both the expensive and onerous Bachelor of Science in Real Estate Management (BSREM) degree requirement for brokers as well as the two-year college requirement for salespersons.

Among the controversial provisions in RESA is Section 32, which requires that corporations have at least one licensed broker for every 20 accredited salespersons.

“We cannot sell so many real estate units if we do not have enough agents, which is restricted by this 1-is-to-20 rule. The law provides that only those who are graduates of BSREM can apply to become a licensed broker---and less than 100 people graduate from this course, a big number of which are not passing the board exam,” NREA’s immediate past president Benny Cabrieto Jr. said.

Leuterio said that ABREP’s creation of a united front to address the shortcomings of RESA is not intended to abolish the law, but rather to improve it so that it serves the industry better.

“This movement is meant to make the industry better for all. We invite everyone who is affected to join us in the discussion so that we all have a voice,” he said. — BM, GMA News