- 2009 executive decree regulating the real estate agent profession
- 09-18
- approval validity since Executive Decree No. 19-242 of 2019
- 5 years
- bank guarantee for a real estate agency (order of 12 July 2009)
- 150,000 DA
- time the wali has to answer the application
- 2 months
Three real estate agent professions
Decree No. 09-18 uses the term "real estate agent" for three different professions (art. 4). Each has its own diploma requirement and guarantee amount.
- Real estate agency: it looks for clients to sell, rent or exchange the properties entrusted to it, promotes them and carries out the steps that come before the contract on its clients' behalf.
- Real estate broker: it puts one person in touch with another for a purchase, sale, rental or exchange.
- Property manager: it lets premises, collects rents and service charges, maintains the premises and has works carried out.
The mandate between the agent and the client must be in writing and set out each party's rights and duties (art. 35).
What the texts say
Conditions to meet
- Be at least 25 years old (Decree No. 09-18, art. 8).
- Hold Algerian nationality and live in Algeria. For a company: be incorporated under Algerian law, with all the capital held by Algerians living in Algeria (art. 5 bis).
- Hold a higher education diploma in law, commerce, economics, accounting, real estate or a technical field for a real estate agency or property manager; for a broker, a higher technician diploma in commerce, accounting, real estate or a technical field (art. 8, as worded in 2011).
- Offer guarantees of good character, not be barred from practising after a conviction, and not have gone through court-ordered liquidation.
- Make a permanent guarantee deposit with a bank, covering your commitments to clients.
- Take out professional civil liability insurance.
- Have commercial premises suited to the profession, of an appropriate size and equipped with means of communication (art. 9).
| Profession | Guarantee |
|---|---|
| Real estate agency | 150,000 DA |
| Property manager | 150,000 DA |
| Real estate broker | 100,000 DA |
The guarantee is deposited with a bank or an approved financial institution. You hand in the bank's certificate once the approval board has accepted your file. You can recover it no earlier than two years after a recorded end of business, on a certificate from the housing administration (order, art. 4, 5 and 7).
The approval file
You file the application with the wilaya's housing directorate, which gives you an acknowledgement of receipt (Decree No. 09-18, art. 10, as worded in 2019).
After the board's favourable opinion, you show proof of the premises (art. 9, as worded in 2011) and the bank document for the guarantee (2009 order, art. 5).
Approval before or after the trade register?
Decree No. 09-18 requires both the approval and trade register registration (art. 6). Since 2018, Law No. 04-08 allows registration without presenting the approval, unless a law says otherwise, but the business cannot start without the approval. For a company, the approval file includes the articles and the legal notice of formation, so the company exists before you apply. As a sole trader, ask the CNRC (trade register centre) office when it registers the activity.
The steps
- 1
Check the conditions
Diploma, nationality and residence, age, commercial premises and the guarantee amount.
- 2
Reserve the company name
For a company, request the name certificate from the CNRC.
- 3
Form the company
Articles with a notary, registration and legal notice of formation: the approval file asks for them.
- 4
File the approval application
At the wilaya's housing directorate, against an acknowledgement of receipt.
- 5
Inquiry and board review
The security services give their opinion within a month; the wilaya board reviews the file.
- 6
Complete the file
After the favourable opinion: proof of premises and the bank certificate for the guarantee.
- 7
Receive the approval and card
After paying the tax: entry in the wilaya register of real estate agents and the professional card from the wali.
- 8
Start within 6 months
Then tax, NIS (statistical number) and CASNOS (self-employed social security) if not done yet.
Refusal and appeal
The wali answers within two months of receiving the application, and any refusal must state its reasons (art. 13). The approval is refused if the conditions are not met, if the inquiry is unfavourable or if the applicant has already had an approval permanently withdrawn (art. 12). You have one month from notification to send a written appeal to the wali, with new information; the wali decides within the following month (art. 14).
Approval validity and obligations
The approval lasts five years and covers the whole country. Renewal requires your annual activity report to have been sent each year (art. 16 and 30). It is personal, revocable and non-transferable, and cannot be rented out (art. 15).
- Start within 6 months of the approval, or face suspension or withdrawal, except in a case of force majeure (art. 32).
- Keep a register of all your transactions, numbered and initialled by the wilaya's housing directorate, for at least ten years (art. 28).
- Display your fee scale where clients can read it (art. 28).
- Carry your professional card at all times and keep a complaints register available to clients (art. 29).
- Send the wilaya's housing directorate a detailed annual report with figures on your business (art. 30).
- Respect professional confidentiality (art. 33).
| Transaction | Fee |
|---|---|
| Sale of a property worth 1,000,000 DA | 3% |
| Sale of a property worth 5,000,000 DA or less | 2% |
| Sale of a property worth more than 5,000,000 DA | 1% |
| Rental | One month's rent per year of the lease |
The property manager sets the fee in an agreement listing the services provided (art. 34).
Penalties
The wali can withdraw the approval temporarily, for up to six months, for unjustified failure to honour written commitments to clients or for breaking the profession's rules. The wali withdraws it permanently for serious, repeated breaches, if the approval conditions are no longer met, or if a suspension or end of business is neither justified nor reported within twelve months (art. 37). After a conviction for tax fraud or exchange control offences, or a court-ordered liquidation, the agent must stop all activity and the approval is withdrawn automatically (art. 38). Any false statement is punished under the criminal code (art. 39).
Carrying on a regulated activity without the required approval is punished by a fine of 50,000 to 500,000 DA; the court also orders the premises closed, then removal from the trade register if the situation is not put right within three months (Law No. 04-08, art. 40).
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