Real Estate Consumer Protection

In the local market, the acquisition of goods or services as final products must be regulated to ensure that both buyers (consumers) and sellers (economic agents) are on equal footing, allowing for an optimal relationship that benefits both parties.

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When this relationship is unbalanced, consumers can turn to the Authority for Consumer Protection and Competition Defense (ACODECO) to file a complaint or grievance. Similarly, they can approach the Commercial Courts, Eighth and Ninth Civil Circuit of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, so that a judicial authority can declare that their rights have been violated and order their recognition.

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Currently, these instances primarily handle cases related to local consumers regarding breaches of warranties, lack of information, service non-compliance, and hidden defects among the most common issues. On the other hand, there is a statistic indicating that, in most cases, foreigners sue economic agents for lack of information, abusive clauses, contract breaches, and contract resolutions, particularly for breaches of contracts related to the promise of sale of condominium units.

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Additionally, breaches can occur not only due to failure to deliver the property but also due to the lack of formal transfer (registration in the Public Registry) of the property.

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It is important to highlight that to appear before the commercial courts, the aggrieved party must be the consumer or final beneficiary of the good or product, as an investor does not have the status of a consumer. This is defined in Law 45 of October 31, 2007, in Article 33, numeral 3, as “a natural or legal person who acquires from a supplier goods or final services of any nature,” and the supplier is defined as “any industrialist, merchant, professional, or any other economic agent who, for a fee or for a commercial purpose, provides another person with a good or service in a professional and habitual manner.”