Gulistan Alagöz
Created Date: November 01, 2024 04:00
When the Ministry of Commerce imposed fines on real estate agents who increased prices exorbitantly, real estate agents found a new method. Real estate agents who avoid making price changes on the same advertisement delete the advertisement and re-upload the same house to the system at a higher price.
Strict monitoring of REAL ESTATE advertisements has attracted attention recently. If the Ministry of Commerce detects an exorbitant increase in its inspections, it imposes a fine on the real estate business. According to the statement made last month; that ‘there will be a decrease in mortgage loan interest rates’ news An administrative fine of 100 thousand liras was imposed on the real estate business that increased the real estate listing price exorbitantly. A total of 11 million 700 thousand lira administrative fines were imposed on 117 real estate businesses that made exorbitant increases in advertising prices in September.
As inspections and penalties increased, some real estate agents found a new way to increase prices. Real estate agents, knowing that they will be caught by the Ministry if they make an increase over the current ad, delete the live ads and enter a new ad with a new price.
‘THE HOME OWNER SHOULD ALSO BE PUNISHED’
Stating that the ‘delete-re-add’ model has been frequently used in real estate advertisements in recent weeks, Hakan Akçam, President of Ankara All Professional Chamber of Real Estate Agents (ATEM), said: “There is a high probability of being caught when a price increase is made on the same advertisement, so they choose to delete and re-add. They even change the advertisement photos because they will be caught if they are the same. But the point that should not be forgotten here is this; The value of the house is determined by the homeowner, not the real estate agent. If there is a real estate office that acts opportunistically and makes unrealistic price increases, of course they should be punished. “But the same penalty should be applied to the homeowner who demands that price,” he said.
‘THEY CANNOT DO IT AFTER JANUARY 1’
On the other hand, the new era in real estate listings will start on January 1. In the Electronic Listing Verification System (EİDS), which has been put into effect as of September 15 and will become mandatory on January 1, 2025, real estate businesses will be required to have a real estate trade authorization certificate in order to post advertisements, and the real estate owner will be required to have the real estate agent authorized via e-Government.
Stating that the ‘delete-re-add’ method will end after this application, Emlakjet CEO Tolga İdikat said, “In the current system, there is tracking through the advertisement number. In the Advertisement Verification System, the advertisement will be entered via the real estate number and the Ministry will make the necessary checks through this number. Therefore, deleting and adding the ad will not work,” he said.
MINISTRY: IT IS BEING METICULOUSLY EXAMINED
SO, how does the Ministry carry out inspections and how much fine does it impose? Officials who made a special statement to Hürriyet on the subject said: “Our ministry is continuing our work meticulously to eliminate consumer grievances resulting from the speculative price increases that are far from reality in the real estate sector recently and to re-establish a fair, competitive and stable market structure in the sector. In this context, our Ministry routinely obtains data regarding housing advertisements on advertising platforms. The advertisements in question are carefully examined and evaluated whether there are manipulative price increases that cannot be explained economically – in other words, high percentage price changes in a short period of time. While making this evaluation, it is also taken into consideration whether there is a change in the quality and characteristics of the real estate subject to the announcement that may lead to an increase in price.
OVER THOUSAND REALTORS WERE CAUGHT IN 2 YEARS
“As a result of our investigations and evaluations, administrative fines are imposed on those who mediate advertisements that are found to cause citizen victimization and constitute unfair commercial practices.” Ministry officials announced that 73.7 million TL will be paid to 737 real estate businesses in 2023 due to ‘intermediation in unfair and unfair price increases in housing sales advertisements’; He shared the information that in 2024, an administrative fine of 100.9 million TL was imposed on a total of 1,009 real estate businesses, of which 27.2 million TL was imposed on 272 real estate businesses.
Source: bigpara.hurriyet.com.tr
