CEDER 2024 in review: The relationship with the authorities

During the Residential Panel held at CEDER 2024, Simona Guțiu, Founding Partner of the Notarial Office EQUITY, recounted that she had noticed, for the first time in many years, that the Consumers’ Protective Authority had become more active: “I saw last year that many of the developers faced controls from [the authority], who visited the developers and checked several issues.” Amongst the aspects checked by the authority mentioned by Guțiu were the compliance with the standards, the correctness of advertising materials, and clauses of pre-agreements and final sale agreements.

She also mentioned an aspect which preoccupied many of the panelists, namely delays in the issuance of vital documentation: “You cannot really cover yourself 100% for the prolongations that are not in your sphere of control. In Bucharest, there is a topic with the delay of the authorities issuing the protocols, the edification certificates, several administrative documents that are vital for the project.”

On this topic, Jan Demeyere, Architect and Co-Founder of Speedwell, expressed his disappointment with the way the authorities are doing their jobs: “We are following the law on every point. But also, the authorities should do it. (…) It's unimaginable that for certain projects, for a CU, you have to wait for six months for an opportunity.”

Moderator Claudiu Bisnel, Managing Partner at Brisk Group, agreed, saying “It's unfortunate, (…) it blocks a lot of investment and a lot of opportunity in the entire marketplace.”

Alex Skouras, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Alesonor, declared that it was important and beneficial that the authorities have begun to check the developers’ obligations, because, in his words: “I want to believe that all the Romanian market will be respecting [these] in order to have a high quality of living”. However, he went on to suggest that the authorities should also do a better job of ensuring a high quality of living. “It's about seeing what's happening outside, where are the schools, not only within the project, outside, where are the commercial areas, where [is] the public infrastructure, where are the health areas, parks. (…) We have to see it not only as developers, but it would be great seeing authorities trying to implement and give incentives to create a proper infrastructure and facilitate our needs.”