Current real estate executive law formulation under scrutiny: El-Sebaey

Housing Ministry took all remarks and additions by real estate developers into account to ensure executive law's efficiency, says ministry adviser

The Ministry of Housing is scrutinising the current formulation of the real estate executive law, which is expected to be approved soon.
The revision will take into account remarks by real estate experts and will be presented to the board of directors of the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) within days. This move comes as part of the process to stimulate real estate investment and accelerate its pace, according to Minister of Housing's Adviser Tarek El-Sebaey.
"The priority for the Housing Ministry at the moment is to complete the real estate executive law anticipated by all workers in the real estate sector, and it will be presented to the Council of Ministers once its final formula is decided," El-Sebaey said.
"The real estate law is a major determinant of real estate investments and dealing mechanisms between the authority and companies in order to accelerate the pace of real estate investment as well as settle all disagreements and problems."
The past few days have witnessed consultations and meetings between Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly and ministry leaders, as well as a number of real estate experts and developers. Madbouly suggested that no lands from real estate projects should be withdrawn unless there is a case of complete distress, where fines for late dues payment to the ministry are considered sufficient, along with fines for breaches of projects' timetables, according to El-Sebaey.
"The ministry took into account all remarks and additions of real estate developers to the real estate law in its primary formulation in order to ensure its efficiency. It will be presented again to developers once it is approved by the New Urban Communities Authority," El-Sebaey said.
Tarek Shoukry, Chairman of Arabia Group for Real-Estate Development & Urban Progress, requested from the authority the acceleration of the enactment of the real estate law and criticised the authority's working style.
"The authority is working according to red tape procedures, which disrupts the workflow and delays the issuance of papers due to the authority's employee's different interpretations of the terms," Shoukry explained.
He went on to explain that the authority is supposed to provide real estate investors with steps that explain the terms of the real estate rule when they request obtaining lands or acquiring licenses of any kind.
"When a person applies for a premises licence for example, the authority must provide him with papers that explain all concepts of the real estate law," said Shoukry. "It should contain all necessary procedures to be taken, from the person's copy of the ID card, to papers that contain the size of the land and the name of the applicant. This will facilitate procedures and help avoid a prolonged period of time to finish all the papers."
He added that the executive law's existence diminishes any chances of a slowdown in the completion of government employee's work due to their different interpretations of the terms of the executive law and the lack of controls that resolve the dispute. The formulation of the law will save time and determine all parties' tasks. It must also be provided to all investors.