Real estate professionals will soon be assigned unique identifiers, while properties listed on the market will receive reference numbers under new regulations expected to take effect by September. The system is being developed by the National Land Authority (NLA), Rwanda Real Estate Professionals Association (RWAREB), Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) and other stakeholders as part of efforts to establish a regulated framework for the sector. ALSO READ: New rules to regulate real estate brokers RWAREB Chairperson Joseph Rutiyomba said the system will introduce two linked identifiers: a practitioner ID for licensed brokers and a property reference number (PRN) for verified property listings. The practitioner ID will confirm that the agent is legally registered, vetted and approved to operate by both RWAREB and NLA. Members of the public will be able to verify any agent instantly on the official platform, Rutiyomba told The New Times. ALSO READ: 10 reasons why real estate brokerage needs regulations He said the second identifier, the PRN, will only be generated after a licensed practitioner has obtained consent from the property owner and signed an agreement to market the property. The PRN will be assigned after the owner and broker sign a contract. From that point, no other broker can list the same property. This protects the owner and the professional, he said. Rutiyomba explained that the PRN will be linked to NLA records to verify key property details before it is listed on the market. ALSO READ: Real estate: Why Rwanda needs to regulate brokerage It will pull verified data such as land use, exact size, ownership status and zoning. It will then be matched with market information, including the asking price and other property details on the RWAREB marketplace, he said. Under the new system, buyers and tenants will be able to verify both the broker handling a transaction and the property being advertised before making commitments. The system is also expected to help address challenges such as fake listings, unauthorised brokers and inaccurate property information by ensuring that only licensed professionals can list verified properties. Pascal Ntaganda, a real estate developer working with ProRealtors, said the system could help brokers avoid wasting time marketing properties that have already been assigned to other agents. It would help avoid situations where brokers spend time looking for customers for a property only to find that it was already taken away, he said. However, Ntaganda said there should be safeguards to ensure property owners are not disadvantaged by the exclusivity arrangement. For property owners, there is a need to ensure their properties do not remain on the market for too long because only one broker is handling them. The platform should have strong marketing to prevent delays; otherwise, exclusivity could limit other brokers and slow down sales, he said. Juvens Mugabe, a real estate broker in Kigali, said the new system could help improve trust between brokers, property owners and clients by making it easier to verify both practitioners and listings. He said brokers often face challenges when several agents claim to represent the same property or when clients struggle to confirm whether information provided about a property is accurate.
