The Dominican Commercial Banking Association (ABA) says that the new fees established in the Notary Law will adversely affect lower-income prospective homebuyers, as reported in 7dias.com.do
ABA president Jose Manuel Lopez Valdes adds that the new law also penalizes small and medium-sized companies.
For example, in the case of low-cost housing, the prospective owner would have to pay a notary the sum of RD$25,000 for the legalization of the signatures of the sales contract and the mortgage, a fee that was between RD$1,000 to RD$2,500 before the enactment of Law 140-15.
The new fee structure represents an increase of between 900% and 2,400%.
Lopez Valdez said that these fees work “against the initiatives that the State has been implementing jointly with the private sector, to promote greater financial inclusion, which at the same time has led to reducing poverty and improving people’s standard of living.”
The banking sector leader pointed out that there are cases where the notary would receive a larger sum of money than that received by the state.
Lopez Valdez was one of the keynote speakers in a panel discussion on “Strengths and Weaknesses of Law 1400-15 on Notaries” sponsored by the Catholic University of Santo Domingo. The other panel members were the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Mariano German, the Executive Vice President of the Institutionalism and Justice Foundation (Finjus), Servio Tulio Castanos Guzman and other opponents of the law.
The Senate has voted to suspend the application of the law for a year, but deputies have rejected the suspension for the time being.