Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1234806
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 APRIL 2020 10 COMMERCIAL REAL estate industry regu- lation moved a step closer to reality recently, when the Real Estate Agents, Property Brokers and Property Con- sultants Act 2019 reached its final consultation phase. "The regulation of Malta's real estate sector is a crucial step forward for the indus- try, and Parliamentary Sec- retary Chris Agius has been unwavering in his pursuit of excellence in this area," RE/MAX Malta Chairman Kevin Buttigieg said. "It is something we at RE/ MAX have championed in since the very start of our operation. We firmly believe that real estate customers should not be allowed to have a negative experience of buying property simply because some agents choose to act like cowboys." The Act has been designed to establish a regulatory framework requiring real estate agents, branch man- agers, property consultants, and property brokers to be licensed. It is hoped that it will inspire a sense of greater responsibility among those working as intermediaries between property buyers and sellers. Now that it has reached its final phase of de- velopment, the government will finalise all elements of its consultation process and reissue the final Act to Par- liament for approval. "According to a recent survey, over 40% of people asked expressed their con- cern about the service they had received from a real es- tate agent, and we consider this unacceptable. In many countries, real estate is con- sidered to be an essential ser- vice because it offers so much important value to the com- munity," Jeff Buttigieg, RE/ MAX Malta COO, said when discussing the Act with Agius on a recent episode of the Re- al Estate Conversation. "We have always taken our responsibility as estate agents seriously, and RE/ MAX Malta was the very first company to offer re- al estate-related training courses." As a result, the company has already started to adapt the required structure to MQF level standards when planning its courses, thus ensuring that its training is up-to-date and exceeds re- quirements when the Act is finalised. Beyond that, it is already looking at offering future Licence Training in- ternally and is gearing up to launch. "Once the Act is in place so-called 'cowboys' will have no choice but to shape up or ship out. There is room for them to pull up their socks and abide by the licence, but there is no longer room for them to take advantage of people and damage the rep- utation of the whole sector. Of course this doesn't mean that the sector will be com- pletely transformed over- night but it does mean we are on the right track. "At RE/MAX Malta we are certainly proud to be one of the companies driving this positive change and are eager to see the long-term results of this investment to make our sector the best that it can be," Buttigieg said. Real estate industry regulation enters final consultation phase BANK of Valletta has won the Honour for Cultural Promoters Award dur- ing the third edition of the Malta Arts Awards, the national arts awards that celebrates the achievements of the cul- tural and creative sectors. The award was virtually presented to BOV Chairman Deo Scerri during a live-streaming event that was held in line with current health authority directives with the intervention of all the winners, Minister for Local Heritage, Arts and Local Government Jose Herrera and hosted by Ray Calleja, Artistic Director of Premju għall-Arti. During his intervention, the BOV Chairman stressed that Bank of Valletta has always aspired to go beyond being the financial services provider of choice of the Maltese community but has strived to be a very active citizen within the community in which it operates. "Bank of Valletta gives significant sup- port to the development of the Maltese community and we are very proud of our extensive Corporate Social Responsibili- ty programme that encompasses a wide range of areas that receive the Bank's support," Scerri said. "With a presence in almost every town and village in Malta, we work hand-in-hand with the Maltese and Gozitan community for the present and future generations." "We were part of many prestigious projects throughout the years, with the operas at the Manoel Theatre and the Astra and Aurora Theatres at the fore- front and the BOV series of Retrospec- tive Art Exhibitions which celebrate Malta's most prominent artists which has now reached 27 editions," Scerri said. "These complement the restoration projects such as the Christ the Redeem- er statue in Floriana and Grandmaster Wignacourt's coat of arms as part of BOV's Millennium Project." "More recent projects include the res- torations of Mattia Preti's painting of St Lawrence in Birgu, the Giuseppe Cali' works at St Dominic's Church in Valletta and Emvin Cremona's works at Ta' Pinu in Gozo. A recent project we are really proud of is the restoration of the mirac- ulous crucifix of Ta' Giezu in Valletta which was completed very recently," he added. Bank of Valletta wins Malta Arts Award 2020 Book Review Laudemus Viros Gloriosos Patrijiet Agostinjani li ghamlu isem Mark Cauchi and Simon Mercieca Horizons, 2019 THIS book holds over one hundred and ten events of Augustinian monks who became famous between 1400 and 2000. However the events recalled in this book go beyond the usual short biographies of persons who lived in the past. These are narratives full of anecdotes about the lives of each one of these monks, events which took place in Malta, in Gozo or away from the Maltese shores. They are even per- sonal experiences of what was said about these monks whose names appear in this book. In this way, the events recorded in this book came about not only as a result of research carried out in archives, even if the latter con- tributed to many of these events being writ- ten, events which had totally been forgotten. This is a book which seeks to bring out the historical aspect of a number of events which these monks had gone through and the reason why most of them ended up being recorded as oil paintings. This book explains the origin of the custom by which a painting is made for a monk and analyses the evolution of this cus- tom until the invention of photography. This book brings to light the pedagogical system that these monks followed and the internal organisation that existed in the past within this community, at a time when going abroad was difficult and when students who showed a readiness to learn were still sent to study overseas. Most of the times these used to go to Italy, mostly Sicily, and used to focus a lot on learn- ing Italian and Latin. Some of them used to study and even become experts in Arabic. These are the monks who remain famous for the way they handled the Maltese language and left literature writings and others of a reli- gious nature in their own native language and even in other languages.