In 2023, the Real Estate Board (REB) received 47 complaints that business was being done without the requisite licence.

“It is a criminal offence for you to be practising real estate business and you’re not licensed to do so? So once it is that we have established that you are doing so, criminal proceedings are brought against the person. That would then fall squarely within the ambit of the court and the penalty would have to be decided by a judge,” explained the REB’s Real Estate Training Institute (RETI) Principal Dr Tina Beale.

“If an individual is aware that someone is illegally conducting real estate business, that individual can come to make a complaint to the board in person, or that complaint can be sent to us in writing anonymously, at
info@reb.gov.jm. But persons need to bear in mind that if a complaint is provided to us, some kind of supporting documentation or information will be needed,” she added.

The REB takes these breaches very seriously and each complaint is checked to ensure validity. All 47 complaints reported last year were found to be valid.

Before engaging in business, there are ways to check if the other party is legit. Red flags include things such as an ad by a real estate salesman that does not list the name of the dealer. This is because salesmen are legally required to work with a dealer and cannot simply open up their own business.

In addition, licensed real estate salesmen and dealers receive a certificate of registration, so you can always look out for this; and the REB website also has a listing you may search.

“A licensee can be a company that’s registered as a dealer or a private individual who has a dealer’s licence,” explained Beale.

For individuals who wish to be certified, the next opportunity to do the two-month real estate salesman course is in the first week of July. Evening classes are offered online Mondays to Thursdays. There is also a four-month course that starts March 9, with participants in full-day sessions Saturdays and Sundays. The course fee is $77,000. Registration ended on January 31 but Beale said they are exploring adding other courses this year. The exam consists of 100 multiple choice questions and if you fail, you have three chances to resit. The resit fee is $5,000. The course is fully online, and so too are the pre-licensing dealers’ courses.

The course fees get a bit pricier at the dealer level. For the course that focuses on becoming a real estate agent, it’s $200,000 for Jamaicans and $235,000 for international applicants. For the property management specialisation, it’s $186,000 for Jamaicans and $200,000 for international applicants.

“You might have individuals from overseas who are coming to do the dealers’ course, who are brokers and they would not have pursued the salesmen course before. So they wouldn’t have any local knowledge of what’s happening in Jamaica. Now, as a result of that, they will have to do some courses with respect to the laws in Jamaica before they are able to do the main aspects of the course. So that is the reason why there’s a disparity in the cost for internationals and locals,” Beale explained.

Dealers’ courses are typically offered on a Friday and Saturday and duration varies with each course.

“You’re assessed for each subject that you do in the dealers’ course. So you tend to get more assignments which have essay questions. At the end of the course, you have an examination period where you do a written exam. There are essay and structured questions where you have to provide short answers. The pass rate for that, too, has traditionally been about 60 per cent, on average,” said Beale.

The easiest way to become a dealer is to start by being a certified salesman. That involves passing the pre-licensing salesman course and then applying for a licence.

“Upon successful completion of the course, then the individual can go ahead to get their police record to show that they have not committed any kind of act or criminal activity with respect to fraud, or monetary impropriety; do their fit and proper application to the Real Estate Board; also apply for the Trustee of Bankruptcy to submit to the board, a letter basically indicating that the person who is applying has never filed for bankruptcy or insolvency. And once they’re in the clear in terms of what it is that would prevent someone from obtaining a licence, then they would be approved by the board for them to become a real estate salesman,” said Beale.

Other less straightforward ways to become a dealer are outlined in Section 10 of the regulations, but the easiest way is to be a salesman who has been practising for two years.

“At the Real Estate Board, we are working on putting plans in place to make things more transparent for individuals — those who are in the market, those who want to come into the market — and so they can look out for more information from us in that regard throughout the course of the year,” promised Beale.