A raft of increases are to hit players in the real estate sector when the new fiscal year rolls around in the next ten days.

This, after Prime Minister Bruce Golding in parliament last Wednesday announced several amendments to the Real Estate Dealers and Developers 2010 Regulations to adjust fees currently charged by the Real Estate Board.

According to Golding, the increase in the fees — some of which had jumped by more than a hundred per cent — were to allow the Board to carry out its functions without budgetary support.

The prime minister said no provision has been made in the Budget to be tabled this Thursday for the Real Estate Board which was one of several entities recommended for removal from the budget when his administration took office in 2007.

“It was given a mandate almost a year ago to prepare itself to become self-financing” he said.

Consequently, the application fees for dealers and salesmen wishing to register have jumped to $20,000 from $7,500 in the case of dealers and $8,000 from $3,000 for salesmen.

Licence fees for dealers and salesmen — which are fees for authority to engage in real estate — are being increased for dealers from $22,500 to $40,000 and from $8,000 to $20,000 in relation to salesmen.

The fees for a developer, who is offering 41 units or more for sale to the public, will be increased from $90,000 to $150,000; while where between 21 to 40 units are being offered, the current $54,000 fee is to be increased to $110,000. In addition for a scheme of six to twenty units the fee will move from $36,000 to $80,000.

In the meantime, Golding said developers will continue to be required to pay a development fee for each unit or lot of the development, but with an increase from $3,000 to $6,000.

And a new provision has been made to allow real estate dealers who have not practised in a particular year but are required to maintain their license to pay a minimum $10,00 and $5,000 for dealers and salesmen respectively.

Allowance has, however, been made for persons applying for licences to practice as real estate dealers to pay their fees in two instalments; the first half on or before April 1, and the second on or before September 1.

But despite these jumps, Golding admitted that “it was still possible the board will require budgetary support”.

He said further discussions are to be held with the Board “because a way has to be found to ensure that they don’t”.

The Board’s projected expenses for 2010/2011 is $55 million, but their projected income is just $43 million. Fees for the sector were last adjusted 22 years ago.

Opposition Member of Parliament Fitz Jackson noting that the time span of the last adjustment had much to do with the seeming monumental jump in fees, however, requested that the “adjustments be done on a more timely basis so the increases are not tremendous each time adjustments have to be made”.

In the meantime, he said what was clear is that although the charges would not be borne by the Consolidated Fund, they would ultimately become user fee charges to the public.

“At the end of the day the developers, the salespersons who are paying these fees will pass these on to purchasers so it is an indirect taxation to the public at large,” Jackson noted.

When the Sunday Observer contacted major industry players, most said they were unaware of the pending changes.

“We are unaware, we haven’t seen it in detail. Nothing has come to us so we can’t respond because we haven’t seen the documents officially. We would prefer to reserve comment until such time,” one association president told the Sunday Observer.