Self regulation?

The business Business Times website carried the article: RE/Max calls for industry overhaul

According to an article by Don Robertson in the SOWETAN on 22 April 2008 RE/Max, has called for the deregulation of the Estate Agency Affairs Board and for the industry to be allowed to regulate itself.

It claims the body is incompetent, fails to return telephone calls, often fails to issue fidelity certificates or does not issue them in time. Estate agents need a fidelity fund certificate to be able to claim commission on the sale of a property. Has this been your experience? Comment below.

About 80000 estate agents were registered with the board last year. It is reported that Jeanne van Jaarsveldt, marketing and financial director of RE/Max, believes that with residential property price growth slowing, the number of agents will drop to about 35000 in time.
What are your views on this?

Van Jaarsveldt also said the consumer and industry interests would be better served if the board was deregulated and the industry could regulate itself.
Have you any views?

Eskel Jawitz, chairman of Jawitz Properties, whose son Herschel was recently appointed vice-chairman of the board, is reported to have said he doubted the board would be deregulated as there is nothing else to replace it. He also admitted, though, that the board was not functioning as it should, but the estate profession should be proactive and try and effect change from within. He also said the call to “unbundle” the board was focussing only on the negatives, but ignoring all the positives that have come about since the board came into operation such as the Code of Conduct and educational standards.

It is also reported that Ken Ralph, vice-president of the Institute of Estate Agents said the matter was “delicate and difficult”.

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?!