# How to open a real estate agency in Moldova: brokerage, valuation, letting and property management

Division 68 covers five businesses that are alike in name only. This page starts with brokerage, where from 23 January 2027 the real estate agents law requires a certificate for every agent and a written agreement with every client. Then come property valuation, carried out by certified valuers; letting your own property; property management, including running apartment blocks for owners’ associations; and selling your own property, where, for developers, the construction page takes over.

## In brief

- **CAEM codes:** Division 68
- **Licence:** Not required (agents and valuers hold personal certificates)
- **Share capital:** No minimum
- **Independent entrepreneur:** Not applicable (no class in division 68 is on the list)

## Real estate agency: notifying the cadastre agency and the real estate agent certificate

From 23 January 2027, a real estate agency may broker deals only after notifying the Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre and being entered in the “Real Estate Agents” module. It works exclusively through certified agents, whether employees or contractors under a services agreement. Each agent holds a personal certificate, issued free of charge after a professional training programme and valid for five years. The agreement with the client is made in writing and reported within 15 working days.

| Code | Activity | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 68.31 | Real estate agencies | Brokering the sale, purchase and letting of real estate, for a commission or under contract, and advice on these transactions. Includes agents who conclude preliminary contracts. Legal services are under 69.10. |

- **Notification: Notification of the real estate agency and entry in the “Real Estate Agents” module** — Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, valid for Unlimited. A legal person or sole trader that brokers real estate transactions. The notification is filed electronically, with the articles of association or an extract from the State Register, contact details and the list of certified agents working for the agency, giving the series, number and expiry date of their certificates. The real estate agency keeps a record of its agents, checks their certificates periodically and updates its data in the module within five working days of any change. It is removed from the module if it is left without agents or fails to keep its data up to date.
- **Authorisation: Real estate agent certificate** — Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, valid for 5 years. The individual who acts as broker. The conditions: full legal capacity; higher or technical vocational education; a certificate of professional competence obtained after an initial training programme at an accredited institution; and no criminal record for offences against property, economic offences or private-sector corruption. The decision is given within five working days of a complete application, and the certificate is free. To renew it, the agent completes continuing training once every five years. Certification from a European Union member state is recognised.

**Who buys it:** Owners selling or letting their home, buyers and tenants looking for one, and companies renting offices, retail space and warehouses. In 2025, 7,500 new homes were completed, over 50% more than in 2024.

**What is different about the money:** Commission is paid only when the deal is concluded thanks to the agent. The law prohibits advances on commission, payments the agreement does not provide for, and cash above the legal ceiling. For services that are not brokerage, such as marketing the property, a separate fee can be agreed, payable even if the deal falls through.

## Property valuation firm: the certified valuer and the valuation report

Valuation is done by a valuation firm (a legal person or an individual registered as an entrepreneur) under contract with the client. The report is signed by the head of the firm and a real estate valuer certified by the Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, whose certificate is free and valid for five years. From 1 January 2027 a certificate of professional competence is also required, but until training programmes start, the valuer certificate can be issued without it.

| Code | Activity | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 68.31 | Real estate agencies | Valuing real estate for sale, purchase or letting falls in the same class as brokerage. The classification has no separate code for valuers. |

- **Authorisation: Real estate valuer certificate** — Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, valid for 5 years. The individual who signs real estate valuation reports. The conditions: education in real estate valuation, in architecture and construction, or in economics; Moldovan citizenship or a residence permit; at least one year as a valuer or trainee valuer; no criminal record; and being certified by the agency’s commission. The commission decides within 30 days, and the certificate is free. From 1 January 2027 a certificate of professional competence, valid for five years, is also required; until training programmes in valuation start, the valuer certificate is still issued without it.

**Who buys it:** Banks lending against property, people buying or selling, companies revaluing their buildings and land, and courts and bailiffs.

**What is different about the money:** The fee cannot depend on the value the report arrives at. A valuer cannot value their own property, the client’s, their relatives’, or that of a company they founded or run. The prices in the reports go to the Real Estate Price Register every quarter, through the firm.

## Company letting its own property: VAT on rent and the real estate tax

A company that lets flats, houses, offices, warehouses or land on a long-term basis, usually for a monthly or annual rent, needs no permit. What matters is the tax regime: rent on housing and land is exempt from VAT, rent on offices and retail space is not. Letting to tourists by the night counts as accommodation and follows different rules.

| Code | Activity | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 68.20 | Renting and operating of own or leased real estate | Letting housing, non-residential buildings and land, whether owned or leased, usually for a monthly or annual rent. Includes construction for own use. Hotels and short-term accommodation are under division 55. |

**Permits:** No permit is required for long-term letting. The owner of a flat in an apartment block tells the administrator of the owners’ association that the flat has been let.

**Who buys it:** Families who rent their home, companies that need offices, retail space and warehouses, and employers housing workers for long periods.

**What is different about the money:** The VAT exemption for housing comes with no right of deduction: the VAT paid on repairs and fittings cannot be recovered. For retail and office space, the real estate tax is 0.3% of the taxable base, and the local council can increase it up to 300% for buildings left derelict.

## Apartment block management company: the contract with the owners’ association

An owners’ association can contract out the management of its block to a company, which the condominium law calls a gestionar. The contract must be in writing or it is void; it runs for one to seven years and sets out the services, the price and the performance indicators. The management company is liable to each owner and reports to the general meeting every year.

| Code | Activity | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 68.32 | Management of real estate on a fee or contract basis | Managing other people’s real estate for a fee or under contract, including apartment blocks run for owners’ associations. |
| 81.10 | Combined facilities support activities | When the company itself does the cleaning, maintenance and minor repairs, waste removal and security in the client’s building, this is the code, not 68.32. A single service, cleaning alone for instance, has a class of its own. |

**Permits:** Property management requires no permit. The list of mandatory management services is approved by the relevant ministry, and the contract with the association must take it into account.

**Who buys it:** Owners’ associations in residential apartment blocks, owners of office buildings and shopping centres, and investors who own several flats and do not manage them themselves.

**What is different about the money:** The management company is paid only by the association, never directly by the owners who are its members. The general meeting can dismiss it at any time, with or without cause, with effect after one month and without any compensation. If the company wants to withdraw early, its withdrawal takes effect only six months later.

## Company buying and selling its own property: notarised form and agricultural land

Buying and selling your own property, including subdividing land into plots without land improvement, needs no permit. A contract transferring real estate must be notarised or it is void. A company that builds in order to sell is a developer, and its rules are on the construction page.

| Code | Activity | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 68.10 | Buying and selling of own real estate | Buying and selling own flats, houses and non-residential buildings, including shopping centres, and own land, plus subdividing land into plots without land improvement. |
| 41.10 | Development of building projects | A company that brings together the money, the land and the technical means to build and then sell has this code, not 68.10. Subdividing land into plots with land improvement is under 42.99. |

**Permits:** No permit is required. Every contract for the sale of real estate is concluded before a notary.

**Who buys it:** People buying homes, and companies buying retail space, warehouses and land. In 2025 the floor area of new homes completed came to 625,700 square metres, of which 435,500 were in Chișinău.

**What is different about the money:** Sales of housing are exempt from VAT with no right of deduction, and retail space is not covered by the exemption. An SRL with a foreign founder, director or beneficial owner cannot buy agricultural or forest land; the purchase is void. Housing, retail space and building land are not affected by the ban.

## How the sector got here

- **29 January 2023 — Condominium Law no. 187/2022.** The management of apartment blocks by companies gets rules of its own: a written contract of one to seven years, payment only from the association, dismissal at any time without compensation. If a block is left without an administrator for more than a month, the mayor can appoint a management company through a competition.
- **13 August 2026 — Law no. 308/2017 on the prevention and combating of money laundering, amended by Law no. 146/2026.** The people in the agency responsible for compliance with the anti-money laundering law need a training certificate, renewed at least once every three years. Without it they cannot perform their role, and the company is given no more than three months to comply.
- **1 January 2027 — Law no. 989/2002 on valuation activity, amended by Law no. 176/2025.** The real estate valuer certificate also requires a certificate of professional competence, obtained through training and valid for five years. Until training programmes in valuation start, the valuer certificate can be issued without it.
- **1 January 2027 — Classification of Activities in the Economy of Moldova, CAEM Rev. 2.1.** Buying and selling own real estate moves from 68.10 to 68.11, and property development leaves construction to become 68.12. Classes 68.31 and 68.32 are renamed “Intermediation service activities for real estate activities” and “Other real estate activities on a fee or contract basis”.
- **23 January 2027 — Law no. 40/2026 on the activity of real estate agents.** Only certified agents may broker real estate, and agencies notify the Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre. The agreement with the client is made in writing, exclusivity lasts no more than six months, and every agreement is reported. Those who were already brokering have until 23 January 2028 to obtain their certificates.

## How big the market is

For 2025, 4,558 real estate companies filed financial statements, with 13,282 employees and sales revenue of 10.7 billion lei. A year earlier there were 4,277 companies, and sales have risen from 8.5 billion. Almost 1,200 of them reported no sales at all in 2025.

Demand comes from construction. In 2025, 7,500 new homes were completed, against 4,800 in 2024, with a total floor area of 625,700 square metres. More than two thirds of that area, 435,500 square metres, is in Chișinău, compared with 223,500 in 2024. Each of these homes will be sold, may be valued or let, and stands in a block that needs managing.

## The real estate agents law: the certificate, the register and the agreement

Law no. 40/2026 on the activity of real estate agents applies from 23 January 2027 to anyone who brokers real estate transactions, whether an individual or a legal person. It separates two roles. The real estate agent is the person: a certified individual. The real estate agency is the business — an SRL or a sole trader (*întreprindere individuală*) — and it works through certified agents. Regulation, certification and the register all sit with the Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre.

### The agent is certified, the agency notifies

For the real estate agent certificate you need higher or technical vocational education and a certificate of professional competence, which you obtain after an initial training programme in real estate brokerage at an accredited institution. The cadastre agency decides within five working days of a complete application. The certificate is free, valid for five years and renewed on proof of continuing training. Its number can appear in listings and correspondence, and the “Real Estate Agents” module is public, so clients can check at any time whether the agent they are dealing with is certified.

The real estate agency, for its part, notifies the Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre electronically and sends in the list of agents who work for it. Agents can be employees or work under a services contract, but they must be certified. When an agent leaves, another joins or a certificate expires, the data in the module must be updated within five working days. The agency is liable for its agents.

### The agreement: in writing, 12 months at most, exclusivity for six at most

The brokerage agreement must be in writing or it is void. The law sets its minimum content: the parties, the services, the property, the term, the fee and how it is paid, rights and obligations, termination and dispute resolution. The maximum term is 12 months. Exclusivity, where agreed, cannot exceed six months. Contractual penalties are capped too: 0.1% a day and no more than 10% of the contract value.

Before signing, the agent gives the client pre-contractual information free of charge. An agent who represents both sides of the same transaction needs the written consent of both. And if the agreement ends without a transaction for reasons that have nothing to do with the client, the agent refunds the part of the fee that corresponds to services not provided.

### Every agreement is reported

The agent reports every brokerage agreement within 15 working days through the “Real Estate Agents” module: the property with its cadastral number, the parties, the value and the commission received. Agreements are kept for at least six years. Having no written agreement carries a fine of 300 to 600 conventional units for the company, that is, between 15,000 and 30,000 lei, and failing to report one carries 100–200 conventional units, again for the company.

Anyone who was already brokering when the law comes into force has 12 months, until 23 January 2028, to obtain the training certificate and the agent certificate. Agreements entered into before 23 January 2027 run their course under the old rules.

## Commission under the Civil Code

The basic rules on commission are not in the new law but in the Civil Code, and they are stricter than many agents think. Commission is due only if the transaction was concluded thanks to the agent. If the transaction depends on a condition, such as the loan being approved, commission can be claimed only once the condition is met. An advance on commission is prohibited, and a clause that would allow one is void.

An agent earns no commission if the property is their own. In residential letting, the agent cannot charge anything for simply renewing an existing lease, nor for a home they manage themselves. The exception is homes let to tourists, to which these rules do not apply.

## Money laundering: the agency is a reporting entity

Real estate agents are on the list of reporting entities in the anti-money laundering law and are supervised by the Office for Prevention and Fight against Money Laundering. For lettings, the obligations apply only to transactions with a monthly rent above 200,000 lei. For sales, the law sets no threshold.

In practice, the agency identifies its clients and their beneficial owners. It carries out a risk assessment of its own line of business, set down in a report that a designated member of management approves and that is updated every year. And it has an internal programme with written procedures and named people responsible for it. Cash transactions of 200,000 lei or more, whether in one operation or in several linked operations within a month, are reported by the 5th of the following month. Records are kept for five years.

From 13 August 2026, the people responsible for compliance also need a training certificate in the field, renewed at least once every three years. If it is missing, the company is given no more than three months to comply.

## The valuer signs, the firm is liable

Real estate valuation sits in the same CAEM class as brokerage, 68.31, but is governed by a different law. The work is done by a valuation firm, under contract. A valuation report is mandatory: it is signed by both the certified valuer and the head of the firm, has a copy of the valuer’s certificate attached and is kept for five years. If the report is falsified or the valuer was not independent, the firm makes good the loss. Liability insurance is mandatory only if the contract requires it.

Every quarter, valuers report the prices from their reports, through the firm, to the Real Estate Price Register of the Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre. The same system will host the real estate agents module, so from 2027 brokerage and valuation come under the same authority.

Valuing securities is a different profession: only a legal person registered with the National Commission for Financial Markets may do it, with a valuer qualified by the Commission.

## Managing apartment blocks

The condominium law allows an owners’ association to contract out management to a company. If the general meeting so decides, the company can also act as the association’s administrator, but in that case none of its employees can be appointed administrator. In residential blocks, contract clauses that put the association or the owners at a disadvantage are void.

Unless the contract says otherwise, the company has a long list of duties: it monitors the technical condition of the block and flags urgent work, draws up the annual and long-term maintenance and repair plan, organises and supervises the work, keeps the association’s accounts and prepares its financial statements, pursues owners’ arrears, concludes the utility contracts and deals with owners’ complaints and requests. At least three days before the contract ends, it hands over all the documents.

For a new company, one way in is the competition organised by the town hall. If an association has been without an administrator for more than a month, any owner can ask the mayor to appoint a management company through a competition and to sign the contract on the association’s behalf.

## Which legal form to choose

For brokerage, an SRL or a sole trader. The real estate agents law allows both to act as agencies, and the agents work through them, with the certificate in their own name. For valuation, the law also accepts an individual registered as an entrepreneur, but the valuation report requires the stamp and signature of the head of a valuation firm. For letting, management and sales, an SRL, for the limited liability.

The independent entrepreneur regime is not an option: no class in division 68 appears on its list of activities. An individual who lets a flat without being registered as an entrepreneur falls under a separate regime, with a tax of 7% of the monthly rent, described on the [hotels and accommodation](/en/industries/hotels-accommodation-travel-agencies) page. If the company builds to sell, the developer’s rules are on the [construction company](/en/industries/construction-company) page.

We handle the choice of CAEM codes, the articles of association, the filing at the Public Services Agency and the opening of the bank account. For a real estate agency, we also prepare the notification to the Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre and the documents the anti-money laundering law requires: the risk assessment report, the internal programme and the reporting procedures. We can take over the company’s accounting from the first month. What each service includes is set out on the [corporate services](/en/corporate-services) page.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can a real estate agent ask for an advance on commission?

No. The Civil Code prohibits agreeing to or receiving an advance on the brokerage fee, and the real estate agents law repeats the ban. Commission is due only when the contract with the third party is concluded thanks to the agent. For separate services provided for in the agreement, such as marketing, a fee can be agreed that is payable even if the deal falls through, but unproven expenses cannot be claimed.

### How long can an exclusive agreement with a real estate agency last?

The exclusivity clause can last no more than six months, and the brokerage agreement no more than 12 months. The agreement must be in writing or it is void, and it can be extended only by a written agreement signed no earlier than one month before it expires. If the client breaches exclusivity and sells through another agent, the lump-sum compensation cannot exceed 2.5% of the sale price.

### Who can become a real estate valuer in Moldova?

Anyone with education in real estate valuation, in architecture and construction, or in economics, who is a Moldovan citizen or holds a residence permit, has at least one year of practice as a valuer or trainee and has no criminal record. Certification is carried out by the commission of the Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, within 30 days. From 2027 a certificate of professional competence is added, but it is not required until training programmes in valuation start.

### Is VAT charged on rent?

It depends on what you let. Leases of housing and land are exempt from VAT with no right of deduction, so the company does not add VAT to the rent, but nor does it recover the VAT paid on repairs. Rent for offices, retail space and warehouses is not covered by the exemption. In a mixed-use property, the residential and commercial parts are treated separately.

### Who pays the company that manages the block?

The owners’ association. The condominium law prohibits the management company from collecting payments directly from owners who are members of the association: everything it is owed under the contract comes from the association. The management contract is made in writing, for a term of one to seven years, and the association can terminate it at any time, with effect after one month.

### Do you need a licence to open a real estate agency in Moldova?

Not a licence. From 23 January 2027, the agency notifies the Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre electronically, is entered in the “Real Estate Agents” module and works only through certified agents. The real estate agent certificate is personal, free and valid for five years, and is issued after a professional training programme. Anyone who was already brokering has until 23 January 2028 to get certified.

### Can a company with a foreign founder buy property in Moldova?

Yes, with one exception. The Land Code prohibits companies with a foreign founder, director, shareholder or beneficial owner, and those with foreign investment in their capital, from acquiring agricultural and forest land, on pain of nullity. They can buy flats, houses, retail space and building land. The sale contract is concluded before a notary.

Choosing the CAEM codes, drafting the constitutive documents and filing with the Public Services Agency are part of the registration service.