Ethiopia is to enact a new real estate law requiring real estate developers to deliver homes on time and to fulfill the agreed upon standards.
The bill known as the Real Estate Home Developers Proclamation will also address the issue of licensing for real estate developers, the transfer of finished homes, as well as outlining the developer’s responsibilities and the framing of the contract between the real estate developer and the customers.
The Ministry of Urban Development and Construction has been drafting the bill which was first mentioned by Mekuria Haile, Minister of MoUDC during a consultative meeting with the Diaspora in April.
The ministry is yet to organize a meeting with relevant stakeholders to discuss the bill although a questionnaire seeking to identify problems in the sector to indicate solutions has been delivered to Ayat and Access Real Estate said Tadesse Gebregiorgis, Deputy Bureau Head of the Housing Development Strategy and Legal Affairs Directorate.The questionnaire particularly seeks to identify problems during the home purchase process and at the time of transfer while suggesting core points that ought to be a part of the legal framework being provided by the ministry.
The ministry is currently just taking sample information but plans to call a meeting with developers and other stakeholders as soon as the bill is fully developed said Tadesse.
It is better that a separate regulatory framework to address breaches of contract within the real estate sector is made available for the public which has by been discouraged from legal recourse by protracted processes said Tilahun Teshome, Professor of Contract Law at Addis Ababa University.
Source: Addis Fortune
