Self-styled real estate agents have mushroomed in Lusaka since the early 1990s, leaping off huge sums of money through malpractices, Zambia Daily Mail reported Saturday.

The liberalization of the property market in Zambia in the early 1990s has seen a major surge in the growth of real estate agencies dealing with various aspects of real estate business, but in the midst of this growing sector buyers and sellers of property and services are at the mercy of fake agents because the law remains moribund, the newspaper reported.

The unbanning of real estate practice in 1991 has led to the reemergence of real estate agents but the market speculators take advantage of the infancy of the market to exploit market players especially rent payers and property sellers.

Vismer Mulenga, the president of the Zambia Institute of Estate Agents (ZIEA), was quoted as saying that the market players formed the institute in 1995 in a bid to forestall the growing malpractice in the sector.

The malpractices such as fraud and theft are widespread among none professional practitioners.

The country passed the estate agents act in 2000 but it has not to date come into force as its awaiting to be gazetted by the minister of local government and housing, according to the newspaper.

The real estate business still suffers a huge credibility gap and unless the law is effected, the sector risks further reputation damage, said the state-run newspaper.

In the capital city for instance, the residential market is active driven by a sharp demand for residential plots, a situation that has cause a major rise in the land values,

This calls for proper regulation of the market players to protect rent payers, property owners and prospecting buyers of real estate, the newspaper concluded.

Source: Xinhua