Professional services regulation: estate agents

• Author: Pinkel, Tobias
• Pages: 52-55

Consum er mar ket stud y on the fun ctio ning of the r eal estate servi ces for consum ers in the EU – Coun try Fiche Germ any

52

9. Professional services r egulat ion: estate agents

9.1 Mar ket entry and st ruct ure regulation

Ta ble 20: M ar ket ent ry an d st ru cture re gula tio n

Regu lati on

Subj ect ive

re quirement s

Qual ificati ons ( level and durati on of edu cation and

tr aining , diplo mas, ex ams, tr aineeships or

pr ofessi onal ex perien ce requ irem ent s, con course)

requ ired to become an esta te agent in your cou ntr y.

Other acce ss re quir eme nts for a pro fessio nal (such

as com pulsory mem bership in prof ession al

bod ies/ compulsor y registrat ion, minim um age

requir ement s, cl ean cri min al r ecord , et c.)

Real esta te agent s n eed a lice nse u nder § 34c Trad e Regu lat ion Act

(Gew O). Until now , t he sta ndar d t o r eceiv e a license is rest rict ed t o

bei ng a rel iabl e perso n.

A sp ecific edu cati on i n r eal estat e bu siness i s not a requ irem ent.

This is, howev er, in th e pr ocess of bei ng ch anged , an d the

envi saged lega l change is likely to b e su ccessfu l. Draf t legisl ation

for esees that real esta te a gent s m ay only obta in a permissi on if

th ey pr ove knowl edge in the fiel d (Sach kund enach weis) and pr ove

pr ofession al i nsur ance. I f a real est ate agen t h as al ready been

registered for six yea rs, the ad dit iona l pe rmi ssion is not r equired. 63

Ob ject ive re qui rem ent s

Do num eru s clause s and ot her ob ject ive

requir ement s exist ?

No.

Lice nce re qui rem en ts

Are est ate agen ts l icenc ed or do t hey work as

em pl oy ees?

Most rea l est ate agent work indep enden tly , bu t b oth is possible.

Cit ize nsh ip

re quirement s

Is u nlim it ed access t o t he pr ofession granted to

foreign pr ofession als de iu re and de f act o?

Yes. The form er nat iona lity requ irem ent s has been w aive d fo llow ing

ECJ ju risp rud ence.

I nt er -p rof ession al

coo per at ion

Are est ate agen ts a llow ed t o exerci se an oth er

pr ofessi on o r busi ness act ivity ? I s int er-p rofe ssional

cooper ati on r egulat ed?

Yes. As t he a ctiv iti es of agent s ar e ( yet) n ot regu lated, th ere are no

limi tat ions on exer cisin g ot her professi ons o r i nter-p rofe ssional

cooper ati on e ith er.

63 Dr aft Act of t he Fe deral Gover nm ent (Gese tzent wu rf d er Bu ndesr egie rung ): Ent wur f ein es Gese tzes zur Ei nfüh run g ein er Be rufs zulass ungsr egelu ng f ür gewe rblic he I mm obil ienm akle r un d

Ver walt er v on W ohnu ngsei gent um, BT-Dr s 18 /1 019 0, o nlin e at: h ttp :/ / dip2 1.bu ndest ag. de/ dip2 1/ btd/ 18 /1 01/ 181 019 0.pd f.