Martinelli vetoes bill to curb developer abuses

Key items in a bill intended to  limit abuses by developers has been vetoed by President Ricardo Martinelli.

President Ricardo Martinelli vetoed items in bill 421, which had been approved by the National Assembly and contained  requirements to limit abuses that proliferate in the development sector. But an article  in the bill reducing taxes for casinos was untouched.
In a letter to the President of the Assembly, Hector Aparicio, Martinelli took the side  of the developers, who had opposed the new regulations.
The bill, passed by the Assembly, required developers to provide a guarantee for the amount of initial credits given by their customers. Thus, consumers would have the assurance that if the developer abandoned the project  they could recoup their investment.
Martinelli, however, believes that this issue is not regulated clearly and "would impact in a negative way on the construction industry and later would impact on the final value of homes.” The bill also granted certain rights to consumers  regarding the delivery of projects. If the project is delayed more than six months after the agreed date, due to causes attributable to the developer, the client could up the property and receive the down payment without discounts.
At this point Martinelli argued that "a law regulating issues that are subject to changing factors such as time, although the subject of a memorandum of understanding between the parties, is inconvenient and ineffective."
The President also squashed the article that limited to 2% increase which could include the promoters for the price of housing by increasing the cost of materials. In addition, they should show them to the Miviot.
In his letter to the Assembly said that "the Authority for Consumer Protection and Competition (acodec) establish the parameters and technical procedures to verify the settings"
But, says La Prensa the action of the Acodeco, an entity created in 2006, has not limited real estate abuses estate. Instead, they have multiplied with the construction boom.According to figures from the institution itself, between May 2006 and February 2012 there were 2000 complaints about 603 developers.
The president of the Panamanian Institute of Law, Consumers and Users, Giovani Fletcher, lamented that "the executive was unable to withstand the pressure exerted by certain groups of developers affected by the creation of a right that consumers need in a market subject to disorder "
The developers, who had rejected the measure because it limited the ability to raise prices by when the price of building materials increased.
The veto made by President Ricardo Martinelli to Bill 421 does not include eliminating the tax cut that was given to  casinos.