In response to the call of World Consumer Rights Day to pay attention to consumer rights and to enrich Macao consumers’ knowledge in laws regarding real estates in the Mainland, Guangdong Consumers Council, Macao Consumer Council and the Economic and Technological Development Bureau (DSEDT) organized “Forum on Guangdong and Macao Real Estate Consumer Rights Protection” on 14 March in Macao. Consumers are suggested to use the information available through the “Joint prevention mechanism for Macao citizens purchasing real estate in the Mainland” to make careful decision.
“Joint prevention mechanism” to cover Greater Bay Area
Wong Hon Neng, President of the Executive Committee of the Consumer Council indicated that with the development of integrated consumption within the Greater Bay Area, the number of Macao citizens purchasing real estate in the Area is increasing. As laws and regulations in Macao are different from those in the Mainland and differences exist in practices among cities in the Greater Bay Area, consumers organizations in the Area strengthened their exchange and cooperation and introduced proper consumer protection measures to avoid consumer disputes and risks that may arise due to insufficient knowledge of Macao consumers regarding regulations of purchasing real estate in the Mainland.
To implement the “Memorandum of Co-operation for Consumer Protection in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area” and the “Co-operation Agreement of Guangdong and Macao Consumer Council on Consumer Protection”, the Macao Consumer Council coordinated with consumer organizations and local administrations for market regulation to set up the “Joint prevention mechanism” to enhance supervision, exchange of information and promotion of regulations between the two regions for safeguarding the rights of Macao consumers.
The “Purchasing real estates in Mainland” special webpage is connected to platforms of Administration for market regulation in Zhuhai City, Zhongshan City and Jiangmen City, consumers may verify the essential information such as “5 licenses” numbers, real estate developers, area and purpose, etc. of the properties approved for sale in the Mainland. Consumers are recommended to check the information to minimize any risks involved before completing any transaction.
Chan Hon Sang, Deputy Director of DSEDT indicated that the “Joint prevention mechanism” monitors the legality and factuality of advertisements of Mainland properties, DSEDT has set up a direct line (28712790) to assist the industry for verifying the compliance of advertisement contents with the “Advertising Law”. Over 80 comments have been provided to the industry by DSEDT in this year.
The “Joint prevention mechanism” aims to cover all cities in the Greater Bay Area as the Consumer Council and DSEDT are coordinating with 6 other cities in the area to deepen co-operation within the mechanism and diversify the information available.
Seven tips from experts
Huang Guanying, Deputy Secretary-General of Guangdong Province Consumer Council, Chen Beiyuan, Legal advisor, and Cui Jian, representative of Guangdong Real Estate Association introduced the laws and regulations, procedures, and latest trend of Macao citizens purchasing real estates in the Greater Bay Area at the forum, the experts emphasized the importance of following all legal procedures when completing transactions.
Deputy Secretary-General Huang offered 7 tips on purchasing properties in Mainland to Macao consumers, including grasping information of local and current regulations, do not trust what is claimed by real estate agents easily, verify if the real estate developer possesses all “5 licenses”, i.e. “State land usage/property ownership licence”, “Construction land planning licence”, “Construction work planning licence”, “Construction work execution licence”, and “Pre-sale of commercial housing licence”, payment should be deposited to the account designated on the platform of monitoring real estate transaction, consumers should inspect the actual sites, all transaction conditions, commitments in advertisements and supplementary agreement should all be concluded in the contract to safeguard consumers’ rights and interests.
Ho Pui Fan, President of the General Committee of the Consumer Council presented souvenirs to the speakers at the event. Invited parties included General Union of Neighbourhood Associations of Macao, Women's General Association of Macau, Association of Returned Overseas Chinese Macau, and Macau New Chinese Youth Association, etc. Representative from the advertising industry and real estate agents industry raised a lot of questions and expressed that the information lectured helped them aware of the potential risks.
