Real estate brokers are now set to face more regulatory scrutiny after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi ratified amendments to the law regulating commercial and real estate brokerage, according to a decree published in the Official Gazette (pdf) yesterday. The changes would see an electronic registry set up for licensed brokers, set rules for their activities, and regulate the fees they charge (as well as how those fees are collected). The amendments come as part of government efforts to regulate a sector that often flies below the radar of the formal economy, and to clamp down on fraud and money laundering.

Brokers that violate the regulations will face penalties under the new amendments, including fines ranging anywhere between EGP 50k and EGP 1 mn, jail terms of up to two years, and a two-year suspension of their practice.

AND HERE’S AN IDEA- How about also making it illegal for brokers to robocall us all 6.02x10^23 per day asking if we want to buy real estate?

El Sisi signed a number of other bills into law:

  • A law amending provisions of the NGO Law which gives civil society organizations another year to comply with the legislation’s requirements;
  • A law amending some articles in the illegal migration act that toughen jail terms and increase fines for human traffickers;
  • A law regulating the use and handling of ships.
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