Interview with Abdellatif Yagou, President of the National Council of the Order of Notaries of Morocco (CNONM)
Important players in the process of selling and buying real estate, notaries have suffered from the crisis during this period of confinement. In the meantime, real estate professionals have held several meetings with the supervisory body to ensure the revival of the national economy. Abdellatif Yagou, president of the National Council of the Order of Notaries of Morocco, gives us the priority axes to get out of the crisis.
ALM : Since the resumption of notarial studies on April 23, what has been agreed to revitalize the real estate sector?
Abdellatif Yagou : To help the national economy, meet the needs of the activity and revive the real estate activity, we decided to resume notarial studies while implementing a number of health measures and preserving the lives of collaborators, citizens and notaries. For the resumption of the activity we held several meetings with our partners and all the components of the real estate value including the DGI, the TGR, the land conservation, the real estate developers, the architects, the topographic engineers, the design offices . During the month of Ramadan, we therefore met with our partners to see the essential points in order to establish a real revival of all the real estate value. On this occasion, the Professional Council of the Built Environment (CPCB) was formed, made up of ONIGT, FNPI, FDEC, the National Order of Kingdom Notaries and the National Order of Architects.
We have put in place a memorandum which has been sent to the Ministry of Housing. Through this memorandum we made a statement of the state of the real estate activity with all its components and the impact of this pandemic on this activity which was therefore stopped. During this confinement, the notaries only passed the acts that were pending and the sector which ensured this activity is mainly economic and social housing.
What measures are proposed in this direction?
After the observation that we made with all the partners, we proposed a plan to revive the activity. The recommendations made concern the drop in bank interest rates, the increase in funding ceilings for buyers, the postponement of interest-free credit maturities for buyers and the real estate development sector (notaries, architects, etc.), postpone to price and sales value revisions at the level of the land conservation benchmark and the DGI benchmark, the reduction also of the 50% registration taxes in favor of the buyer to revive the activity, or acceleration of dematerialization. Other measures are recommended, in particular at the level of project management with the extension of the deadlines set for the production of social housing programs for a renewable year following the evolution of the pandemic, the creation of a mixed watch unit the Ministry of the Interior and their partner including the FNPI, the Council of the National Order of Notaries, the Onigt, the National Council of Architects, the FDEC. There is also the establishment of a digital platform common to the Ministry of Housing and the Ministry of the Interior for the release of files in progress or pending. At the level of land conservation: the accelerated procedure for files in progress with the agreement that must be given on digital deposits while physical deposits must be left later. These measures also concern the acceleration of the launch of AOs, the digitalization of procedures for managing AOs, the cancellation of the provisional bond in order to give access to very small businesses to public markets.
The pooling of geographic information between administrations at national and local level, the facilitation of access to the urban planning document, the strengthening of the performance of the Rokhas platform by including monitoring. It is also important to allow the CNONM technically speaking to complete the list of acts supported by the tawtik platform, and to obtain the visa of the tax inspectors electronically on the consignment register. There was also: the revision of the benchmarks for real estate prices adopted by the Directorate General of Taxes so that they are in line with the reality and practice of the market.
What should be adjusted from a legal point of view to stimulate real estate demand, which is, in fact, the main lever for real estate recovery?
To succeed in this recovery, it is necessary to combine the efforts between all the partners who intervene in the real estate sector and at the level of the government. It is also necessary that the fiscal and financial measures that we request are put in place hoping that, within the framework of the amending finance law, these provisions are taken into account, that they are therefore adopted at the level of the reduction of duties registration of half, which are not limited to only certain sectors. There must be discounts and postponements of payment periods to allow the real estate activity to revive. In addition, short- and medium-term legal measures must be revised, such as sale in the future state of completion (VEFA). Close consultation with professionals and the supervisory ministry is essential to examine the shortcomings of this law and adapt this text to the Moroccan reality.
It is necessary to provide stakeholders in the real estate sector with a coherent text that will allow the revival of the real estate activity. It is also recommended to review the implementing decree in terms of real estate guarantees which must also stick to the Moroccan reality by ensuring: the revival of the real estate activity, the transparency in terms of real estate acquisitions, and the security of transactions. This will boost the national economy in this area since the real estate sector plays a very important role in economic activity and guarantees more than 1 million jobs.
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