Leasing Agents ‘Will Not Suffer From Rental Index’

There will always be a role for ‘middlemen’ in negotiating new tenancy contracts, said the Director-General of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), Marwan bin Ghalita, while seeking to allay the fears of leasing agents that they could be left out of the move to measure average rental prices. The leasing agents raised concern after RERA announced that all tenants in Dubai must register their contracts online, in order that the authority may get a clearer picture of average rents. However, some agents fear that centrally collated figures on average rents could provide a valuations guide for owners to advertise their properties directly. Moreover, registration could be done online rather than through a broker. Musham Khan, manager of Geometrics Real Estate in Dubai, said the move was “scary” for brokers. It could mean that instead of going to an agent, owners could directly advertise their properties online. Over a period of time, brokers’ services would no longer be needed,” he said. “But it will be a good thing for tenants, who wouldn’t have to pay fee to the agents. It would also be a good thing for owners, who would know how much rent to demand for the property.

He added that the move would streamline the market. “If averages are set, then there could be a rental cap to stop soaring rents. This will give a lot of stability to the market. Elaine Jones, CEO of Asteco, said that a part of the problem was that details of the plan were still vague. She, however, added: I don’t think that the purpose is to cut out agents. But it will give a better guideline for the market. Bin Ghalita said the move would make leasing agents more responsive to property owners. What RERA is aiming for is to establish a rent database for Dubai and the market should be transparent for all parties,” he said in an emailed statement. Regarding the agents, we are working to make all service providers professional and service the investors as per the best practices. The agents will be able to service the investors better and their advice will be based on the real market data. The investors will need the agents more to advise them. They will become real estate advisors rather than just one-time agents. Registration of tenancy contracts is compulsory and can be done on the Ejari web site set up by RERA. No deadline for registration has been set. Registration will cost Dh100 and can be done directly by tenants or through an agent.