06.06.2022
A person employed by a licensed real estate agent may be registered with the Register of Real Estate Agents’ Assistants.
A real estate agent’s assistant is a person employed by a licensed real estate agent who carries out real estate transactions in accordance with his instructions, provided that he is registered in the Register of Real Estate Agent’s Assistants. The real estate transaction is brokered by a licensed registered real estate agent and when an assistant real estate agent is involved they must be registered.
The requirements for registration are defined in article 12 of the Law on Real Estate Agents, L.71(I)/2010, and each interested person must apply no later than 30 days from the date of commencement of their employment, otherwise the period of practice in this position will be considered started 30 days prior to filing an application for registration.
The application is submitted to the Board of Real Estate Agents with confirmation of the necessary qualifications. The person concerned must be a citizen of the Republic or a Member State of the European Union, not be bankrupt or incapacitated, have a high school diploma or its equivalent and not be convicted of a crime of dishonesty or moral obscenity, and if convicted of have been reinstated.
The Board has the right to request additional evidence and information or documents, and the applicant must comply. If they do not meet the deadline, the board may reject the application for that reason alone.
In the event of a refusal, the applicant is notified and may challenge the legality of the decision in an administrative court. Such a case was considered by the court in a decision dated May 10. The applicant complained that the rejection of his application was unlawful and unlawful.
His application was accompanied by detailed evidence of remuneration and proof that his employer was a registered real estate agent and company. The Board considered the application belatedly and in a letter to the declared employer asked him to appear before him on a specific day for an interview, providing evidence of the applicant’s employment.
The Council requested monthly pay slips regarding the applicant’s salary, bank statements showing salary deposits, copies of pay slips, transactions conducted by the applicant, and other information. The employer did not attend the hearing and argued in his lawyer’s letter to the council that his request was unlawful and constituted an abuse of power. Consequently, the council sent another letter inviting the employer to provide information and the applicant to appear before him on a certain date, but they failed to comply. The council rejected the application.
The court ruled that the council had the right to request additional supporting documents and the refusal was incomprehensible. He added that despite the fact that the board had considered the simple application with a delay, the applicant had not acted properly in submitting the necessary information, as the board had doubts about his employment. The delay in consideration of the application could not lead to invalidity, since the final decision on rejection was made.
As regards the applicant’s complaint of prejudice, the Court held that a mere allegation of prejudice or subjective allegations of intense hatred were not sufficient, given the fact that the burden of proof for such an allegation lay with the person alleging prejudice. The court concluded that the council’s request was justified in the context of the due diligence that the administrative body must carry out before making a decision. On the contrary, the refusal of the applicant and his employer was unreasonable and led to a decision of the council applying the provisions of section 13(4) of the Law with appropriate justification. Consequently, the court dismissed the complaint as unfounded and upheld the council’s decision.
George Coucunis is a lawyer practicing in Larnaca and founder of George Coucounis LLC, Advocates & Legal Consultants
