Setting up legally in Morocco

In most markets, this lesson would be about a licence exam. Morocco has no licence for real estate agents, so there is no exam to pass. Instead, you need a legal business set-up, you must meet anti-money laundering duties, and you should prepare for a law that may arrive one day.

Why there is no licence, and draft law 36.17

No Moroccan law defines the job of real estate agent. Le Brief reported in November 2025 that there is still no licence, no professional card and no entry condition.

A bill on the status of real estate agents, 36.17, was filed in February 2014 and sent to the Secretariat General of the Government in 2017. According to Le360, it has 37 articles and would require:

• A clean criminal record.
• Either a two-year post-baccalaureate degree (Bac+2) or five years of experience in the field.

The Housing Minister promised in October 2023 to relaunch it. Bladi reported in March 2025 that it was still not adopted, and we found no adoption as of October 2026.

What to do now: keep copies of your diplomas, employment contracts and payslips from day one. If the law passes, proof of experience may be what lets you keep working.

Step 1: choose your legal status

• Employee. The agency or developer holds the registration. You need nothing more on your side. This is the usual start.
• Company, often a SARL. The standard route for running your own agency, alone or with partners.
• Auto-entrepreneur, if eligible. Humantal (January 2026) gives caps of MAD 200,000 a year for services and MAD 500,000 for trade, and a tax of 1% or 0.5% of turnover. Property development is excluded. We could not confirm whether real estate intermediation is allowed, so check the official list on rn.ae.gov.ma before you register.

Step 2: register a SARL

Here are the usual steps as described by Humantal in January 2026. Fees change, so check the official source before you act.

1. Certificat négatif. Reserve your company name with OMPIC, online at directinfo.ma or at the Regional Investment Centre (CRI). Humantal gives MAD 230, 24 to 48 hours, valid 12 months.
2. Statutes. Write the articles of association: name, purpose (real estate intermediation), capital, partners, manager and duration.
3. Capital. There is no fixed minimum. At least 25% must be paid up at the start, with the rest within five years. A bank blocking certificate is needed only above MAD 100,000.
4. Tax registration. Register the statutes with the tax office (DGI) within 30 days of signing. Humantal lists a fixed fee of MAD 200 plus MAD 20 of stamp duty per sheet.
5. Trade register (RC). File at the CRI one-stop counter. Humantal gives MAD 350 and 2 to 5 working days. You receive your RC number, your tax identifier and your taxe professionnelle registration.
6. Legal notices. Publish in a legal notices newspaper and in the Bulletin officiel within a month.
7. CNSS. Register with the social security fund, free, and declare each employee within 30 days.

Humantal estimates 7 to 14 working days and MAD 5,000 to 10,000 in total, including MAD 3,000 to 6,000 of professional fees, before capital.

Step 3: understand your identifiers and local tax

• RC (registre du commerce): your trade register number.
• ICE (identifiant commun de l’entreprise): the company identifier that must appear on your invoices.
• Taxe professionnelle: the local business tax, formerly the patente. Upsilon Consulting describes rates of 10%, 20% or 30% of the rental value of your premises, a five-year exemption for a newly created activity, and an annual electronic declaration by 31 January. Since Law 14-25 of July 2025, the DGI collects it. Because that law reformed local taxes, confirm the exemption with the DGI.
• A business bank account, so every fee is paid by transfer.

Step 4: set up your anti-money laundering system

Real estate agents are reporting entities under Law 43-05, as amended notably by Law 12-18. The financial intelligence unit is the ANRF, which replaced the former UTRF. Ministerial Order 133.23, in force since January 2023, requires agents to:

1. Run a risk-based vigilance and internal control system.
2. Identify clients and beneficial owners, and refuse anonymous clients or shell companies.
3. Screen clients against sanctions lists.
4. Send suspicious transaction reports to the ANRF.
5. Train staff and send an annual report to the Housing Ministry, which has named 45 controllers.

Write a one-page procedure, name a compliance person, and keep an ID file for every client.

Step 5: train and join a professional body, voluntarily

No training is required by law, but it pays off.

• Franchise training. Jobsquare says networks train their agents in sales, Moroccan property law, digital tools and client relations.
• Professional associations. The Moroccan Association of Real Estate Agencies (AMAI) signed a partnership with France’s FNAIM in 2018, which included training for AMAI members (Infomediaire).
• The voluntary national register, which counted about 1,312 agents in 2023 (Le360).
• Self-study: the CloserPass glossary and Morocco rules training.

Key takeaways

• No licence today, but bill 36.17 would require a clean record and Bac+2 or five years of experience.
• A SARL takes about two weeks: certificat négatif, statutes, tax registration, RC at the CRI, notices, CNSS.
• You need an RC, an ICE, the taxe professionnelle and a business bank account.
• Law 43-05 applies to you now: know your client, report to the ANRF, file the annual report.

For more detail, see How to become a real estate agent in Morocco.