Yesterday was the final day for the public to submit comments on the draft rules and regulations that will accompany the long-awaited Condominium Law passed in January. But several real estate industry bodies are angry they were not sent a copy of the proposed rules and were therefore unable to make suggestions.
U Sai Thet Naing Moe, director of the Department of Urban and Housing Development under the Ministry of Construction, told The Myanmar Times yesterday was the deadline for any recommended additions or amendments.
“We drafted the rules in the last week of November and distributed the draft to all related organisations,” he said. “We asked for feedback and will revised the draft on the basis of their remarks and suggestions. After that, we will submit the draft to the Union Attorney General Office.”
Once the Attorney General’s office gives the green light the rules and regulations can be published, allowing the law to come into force in practice, which is likely to be over a year since it was passed by the previous government.
Under the Condominium Law foreigners will be able to legally own apartments on the sixth floor or higher of residential blocks, and own up to 40 percent of apartments in a single block, which industry officials hope will rejuvenate the sagging Yangon real estate market.
The law’s passage through the Pyithu and Amyotha Hluttaws was marked by much disagreement and debate, with more than two and a half years going by between the initial drafting and presidential approval.
The draft rules and regulations have sparked their own round of acrimony. Although the Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association (MCEA) was asked to comment, other industry bodies were not.
“The Ministry of Construction asked for our remarks and we have already sent them,” said MCEA deputy chair U Shein Win, who thinks the rules will finally appear in January.
He declined to go into detail on the draft rules and regulations.
But U Than Oo, deputy chair of the Myanmar Real Estate Services Association (MRESA), said his organisation had not received the draft. Because the opinions of groups like his had not been collected, the rules and regulations would be imperfect, he added.
“The law may come out with many deficiencies,” he said. “It will contain only the construction [industry] point of view and will not contain opinions [from people on the] real estate services side. If they send to us, we can give advice based on possible market conditions.”
U Sai Khon Naung, chair of the Yangon Region Real Estate Entrepreneurs association, said no-one had asked their opinion on the draft rule.
“It’s [a law] closer related to people like us that provide real estate service,” he said. “They should ask for suggestions from those organisations. Only then will the regulations be perfect.”
Translation by Zar Zar Soe, Win Thaw Tar, Khine Thazin Han and San
Quoted from mmtimes.
