On May 8th was published in BOJA (Andalusian Official Boletin) the definitive text about the CACI (Andalusian Quality Real Estate Code), which establishes measures for protecting consumer rights in this field, inside the Andalusia region, which has been highly demanded for years by the professional associations of this industry.

Without going any further, last weekend was celebrated in Jaen the “VI Jornadas Inmobiliarias de Andalucía” organized by COAPI Andaluz (Andalusian College of Estate Agents) -of which I am a member-, where representatives from the main Junta de Andalucia administration were attending, including urbanism, housing and consumption technicians; also, representatives of the Chamber of Notaries and Registers. Of course, we were all attending as members of this College of Estate Agents, as hosts and key stakeholder.

So, independently it is necessary to develop the regulation -and as Spaniard would say «from head to tail, everything is bull»-, once it is approved the law called “Ley 1/2018, de 26 de abril, por la que se establece el derecho de tanteo y retracto en desahucios de viviendas en Andalucía”-and I am leaving here this link for anybody that wants to look deeper in it-, we can start to make conclusions about its utility and its consequences for our industry.

Especially, inside this law, if we focus on its “Disposicion adicional cuarta”, it establishes the Real Estate Intermediary Conditions, where the development of this activity is regulated, as well as the minimum requirements to demand users of our services, which I will highlight in 3 main blocks below:

  • Preserving the consumer rights and users that access to the real estate market.
  • Creation of an administrative registry in which everyone who wants to develop this activity of real estate intermediation must be registered including: identification of an independent agent or company, office address, training, possible membership to any professional association, civil responsibility and caution insurance.
  • Supply information to the users of the services, like a guarantee refund, the service contract, accomplishing the protected houses law, and other demands that are necessary.

In an essence, this is the CACI, and as its own name indicates, its main goal is giving more quality to the real estate services, eliminating bad practices that has been damaging the professional image, since the profession was liberalized over 2003. In this way it stops the entrance for new operators in the market without the minimum requirements necessary, guaranteeing that people who demand our services can have enough legal guarantee against the different risks regarded to this activity.