General
The BIV, ‘Professional Institute of Real Estate Agents’ is an official professional association for professional real estate agents in Belgium active in the sale or rental of Belgian or foreign real estate, including in Spain.
Anyone who wants to carry out real estate activities independently at home or abroad must therefore be recognised by the BIV/IPI.
In Spain, with the exception of the Comunidad Valenciana since 10/2023, there is no professional recognition required to act as a real estate agent, which leads to an uncontrolled market. Literally anyone can be declared a real estate agent, resulting in a large number of unprofessional agents with little or no legal, fiscal and general market knowledge.
As a result, the Spanish real estate market has in many cases rightly built up a bad reputation due to the lack of transparency and professionalism. Therefore, buy optimally informed and completely safe through a recognized BIV/IPI agent.
The deontological character of the broker
Like architects and lawyers, professional real estate agents must comply with ethical rules. You can read these specific rules (Dutch) hier.
In practice, there are regulations in the areas of liability, general annual training, anti-money laundering legislation, third-party accounts, duty of confidentiality, etc. A broker who does not adhere to the code of ethics risks a disciplinary sanction.
You can easily recognize a recognized broker by their BIV/IPI number. For Sublicasa this is 516551.
Check whether a broker has a recognition? You can easily do this with the online tool of the BIV/IPI. Simply enter the desired real estate agent or real estate agency.
Always check in advance which broker you are going to do business with.
Check the real estate agents (Dutch) hier.