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Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls
THE Real Estate Institute of Zimbabwe (REIZ) has started engaging Government seeking a review of property legislation in the country.

REIZ president, Mr Mike Juru, said a new legislation was needed to revive the industry, which is facing several challenges such as the impact of the exchange rate.

Mr Juru, who is founder and managing director of Integrated Properties, said existing laws were last reviewed in the 1970s hence they were no longer serving a purpose in the modern setting.

“We want our industry to be regulated. We’re not a regulating body but volunteers who want the best for the industry hence we need to push Government on property development model because we want the industry to rise from the ashes.

“At the moment people can’t expand their properties because we are sticking to the 1970s Act,” said Mr Juru.

The existing by-laws were last amended in the early 1970s, he said. Mr Juru said as a result of the prevailing economic situation in the country, REIZ was also working on localising international property valuation laws.

“We’re trying to localise standards as we’re in a peculiar situation because of the currency rate situation. We’re making efforts to have home grown solutions in that regard,” he said.

Mr Juru said REIZ’s new thrust was to engage Government to work on property tax where there is double taxation in some instances.

This comes at a time when the estates industry faces a critical situation where property owners have started demanding rentals in foreign currency specifically the United States dollar.

Some tenants, both residential and office space users, have been given notices to vacate their lodgings.

Mr Juru said the country was going through a transition period and called for a system where those who receive rates in forex should pay VAT in foreign currency.

“We’re in a transition period and property owners are asking for the US dollar and the question is: ‘do people get the dollar?’ There are no laws in the property industry as we are guided by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe regulations,” he said.

He castigated cross-rating in the property businesses saying this is illegal. Estate agents are seized with cases where property owners are seeking direction whether to start pegging rates in Unites States dollars in the New Year while some property owners have already increased rentals by as high as 500 percent.

As a result occupancy rate in most towns has gone down with some office space left vacant. Real Estate expert Mr Ian Dlamini of Ian and Company said a majority of Zimbabweans will not afford rentals in forex. REIZ superintends over the training and development of professionals in Real Estate (Estate Agents and Valuers) and the maintenance of professional standards.

The institution was established in 1945 and has about 250 members.

— @ncubeleon