Real Estate Scam Exposed: Developers Exploit Housing Aid with Fraudulent Permit Schemes

Some real estate developers and individuals have taken advantage of the direct housing assistance program - which provides a grant of 100,000 dirhams per transaction - to multiply building permit applications for existing buildings, erected well before 2023, in order to unduly benefit from the subsidies granted under this plan. To achieve this, they have implemented three strategies. The first: they file an application for a regularization permit for buildings erected without prior authorization, while deliberately concealing the original plans validated by the municipal services. Thus, the regularization permit, valid until May 11, 2025, replaces the occupancy permit.

After the expiration of the deadline, some fraudsters implement a second strategy: the request for a demolition permit followed by reconstruction. "In fact, no demolition is carried out. The owner thus obtains a new permit, waits a few weeks, then applies for a recent occupancy permit, essential for the buyer to be eligible for the direct aid," reveals Al Akhbar. The third strategy consists in passing off a already built plot as a vacant land, in order to obtain a new building permit, then an occupancy permit dated 2025.

These practices are observed throughout the kingdom, with alleged complicity between certain agents of the urban planning services of the prefectures, municipalities and urban agencies. Yet the law requires a field inspection for any permit application, whether for regularization, construction or demolition-reconstruction. With aerial photographs and tools like Google Maps, the authorities can also verify the actual state of the plots.