Essential Information For Bay Area Real Estate Agents

Real estate agents must adhere to the new regulation published in September 2023, which will come into effect this year. The obligation entails registering adherence contracts with PROFECO, as stipulated in NOM 247. It is crucial to reflect on this in detail, as it specifically pertains to consumer activities.

If you are a real estate agent hired by a business owner, whether an individual or a legal entity engaged in the construction or marketing of properties, any potential sales contract will be of a commercial nature, as stated in Article 75, Section 13 of the Commercial Code. To support your contractual relationship for that specific matter, you must have an adherence contract registered with PROFECO.

In the case of legal entities, particularly if they are commercial societies, an adherence contract must always be registered. Companies only engage in commercial activities. If your selling client is an individual with entrepreneurial activity, and the property is part of their assets, the transaction will also be considered commercial.

If an individual trader acquires a residence but does not incorporate it into the framework of their business activities because it is a dwelling, it will be a consumer act if purchased from a business owner. This residence becomes a property for the buyer. Real estate transactions between individuals who are not formally engaged professionally or habitually are not subject to the Federal Consumer Protection Law.

If your selling client is an individual without entrepreneurial activity, meaning the final contract will not have a commercial nature, as neither the seller is a business owner nor their counterpart is a consumer. For there to be a consumer, there must be a merchant on the other side of the legal relationship. This remains the same even if the seller is promoting a residential property that may belong to them and they do not engage regularly in the sale of real estate.

Similarly, if the property is sold by a company to a business owner, there is no consumer relationship, and the Federal Consumer Protection Law, as well as the Mexican Official Standards, do not apply. The final reason is that the property can never function as a residence because companies do not have dwelling places. Therefore, adherence contracts need only be registered for real estate transactions in which the professional real estate broker has portfolios of companies selling to consumers. Perhaps it would be easier for the authorities to categorize all real estate brokers together rather than attempting to understand the complex legal concepts and interpretations of the law.

Our recommendation is always to seek professional advice and never engage in corrupt practices.