Who's to blame?

The Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) has denied accusations from the Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa that the board is incompetent. The issue is that estate agents are operating without certificates and they reckon that the board has failed to issue them.

It is law that agents must have a fidelity fund certificate to be able to practice legally. CEO of the EAAB, Nomonde Mapetla, said (according to an article on the SABC website) that the fault lies squarely at the door of the estate agents. “It is their duty in terms of the law to ensure that they get these certificates...that they make the necessary submissions even at the end of their financial year to ensure that they don't get blocked...those that are blocked have not submitted their audited trust accounts. Last year we did inspections for the first time in 30 years and were able to discover this and therefore started blocking people...”

The SABC site also mentions that the President of the Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa, Willie Marais, said the board was inefficient.

My focus is on the new Qualification requirements - Let us all work in a way that will ensure that we do not have a similar crisis when the deadline arrives!

Take action now and avoid the inevitable crunch that I predict will happen - thousands of agents not having the fidelity certificates because of ... Who will be to blame?!