Good morning everyone

As an estate agent in Catalonia (am I allowed to say that?) I think it's safe to say that very few agents here are actually registered yet.

The Generalitat's 'Llei del dret a l'habitatge' law came into force in April 2008, setting the base for a thorough regulation of estate agents' activities. However, the register itself was created by a decree in March of this year and some aspects of its operation have only just been clarified.

(Perhaps the Habitatge department have been too busy working out ways to use cédulas de habitabilidad for social engineering? 1984 anyone?)

Anyway, I started the registration process (via the professional association I belong to) in April and have been told that if all goes to plan, I should get my registration number sometime in July. I won't be holding my breath...

Members of professional organisations (API, APEI, etc) will doubtless all be registered shortly, while many other estate agents will probably wait a bit to see what of there are any changes.

And I suppose there might be a few agents somewhere that are still unaware of the need to register...

For the record, the real estate sector (formerly a kind of closed shop) was completely 'liberalised' by the Aznar government back in -I think- 2002, making it possible for literally anyone to set up as an agent.

In 2005 the autonomous govt of Andalucia set up 'decreto 218', designed to put some controls on the sector and protect consumers.

Catalonia's new law aims to do much the same thing, with estate agents now required to prove experience/possess appropriate qualifications and to have adequate insurance cover and bank guarantees, as well as various other requirements.

It looks likely that similar laws will be gradually introduced in Spain's other autonomous communities.

By the way, a recent post on this forum seemed to me to imply (forgive me if I misunderstood) that you need to be set up as a company in order to trade as an estate agent, and that NIE numbers are somehow not valid as identification.

But as far as I know this is not the case: it is perfectly possible to be registered (and pay tax of course) as a self-employed ('autónomo) estate agent. Autónomos use the NIE number for tax ID purposes, which is what the number is for.

And yes, I am self-employed  :)

Hope this clarifies things a little. Dull as the subject is...

Jeff