Dear Colleagues
Property Practitioners Bill
On 4 December 2018 the National Assembly adopted the Property Practitioners Bill. On Tuesday 29 January 2019, the Department of Human Settlements briefed the National Council of Provinces for deliberation of the Bill. In the week commencing 4 February 2019, the Bill will be presented to the Provinces.
During the 3rd week of February, the NCOP will hold another round of public hearings in all provinces. This will be the last opportunity the industry has to voice their concerns and make comments before the NCOP makes final mandates on the Bill on 12 March 2019.
As soon as we receive the roadshow schedule from Parliament we will notify you. We urge you to attend these public participation sessions. Rebosa’s concerns, commentary and previous submissions on the Bill to parliament can all be found on our website http://www.rebosa.co.za
In addition, The Select Committee on Social Services invites all interested people and stakeholders to submit written comments on the Property Practitioners Bill. Written presentation must be received by no later than 12:00 on Friday 15 February 2019. Enquiries, as well as written submissions, can be directed to: Ms Marcelle Williams, Select Committee on Social Services, Parliament of RSA, P.O. Box 15, Cape Town 8000 or e-mailed to: mawilliams@parliament.gov.za
Tel. 021 403 3799, Cell: 083 709 8451.
Rebosa will continue to actively lobby these committees to ensure that the Industry’s concerns are taken into account. We will keep you abreast of all further developments.
Home Inspections – This is Not Factual
Emails, fraught with incorrect information, have been addressed to a number of members in respect of home inspections.
See example below:-
In fact nothing has changed – The voetstoots clause is still alive and well. Agents still have to obtain Sellers’ disclosure documents from all Sellers as is currently the practice.
Home inspections are not compulsory. There is no mention of an ombudsman in the Property Practitioners Bill nor the current Act.
This is clearly an attempt to create a new business.
SSETA Real Estate and Related Services Chamber Committee
We are pleased to announce that Ronel Bornman, National HRD Manager at Seeff has been elected to serve on the SSETA Real Estate and Related Services Chamber Committee for Rebosa. Ronel is passionate about education and has years of experience in real estate training and development. We wish her every success during her tenure on this committee and look forward to strengthening our relationship with SSETA with Ronel on board.
Implementation of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 38 of 2001 (the FIC Act), by the Estate Agency Sector
A transitional period was granted by the Financial Intelligence Centre (the FIC) to enable full compliance with the new requirements of the FIC Act to be achieved by the sector. This transitional period ends on 1 April 2019. Effective 1 April 2019 all estate agency enterprises must ensure full compliance with the provisions of the FIC Act.
Following a meeting with the EAAB on 23 January 2019, we have been advised that by beginning February, the EAAB will embark on a series of roadshows to educate the industry on compliance with the Act. The EAAB will also finalise a draft RMCP template by end January 2019.
In addition, the EAAB has created comprehensive study material specifically designed to assist estate agency enterprises to meet their FIC Act compliance obligations. Please find the study material below:-
This study material will also be included in the prescribed study material for the Professional Designation Examination for principal estate agents (PDE 5) and form part of the Continuing Professional Development (“CPD”) programme.
It is unfortunately true that industry has to comply with a new Act despite not having received the required training from the EAAB as yet. This is despite the fact that it is the responsibility of the EAAB to have made such training available (Section 7.1 of the Estate Aghency Affairs Act and Section 3 of the Property Practitioners Bill.)
We are continuously monitoring this process and will keep you abreast of developments as they occur.
Self-Assessment of Compliance with EAAA and FICA 2018/2019
The EAAB have again launched the Self-Assessment for Principals. Principals are selected randomly and you are therefore only required to complete the self-assessment if you have been notified by direct email communication. Should you have been selected, the self-assessment can be found on your MyEAAB Agents Portal on the “Self-Assessment” link.
Deadline for completion of the self-assessment questionnaire is 31 January 2019.
Should you have been selected for Self-Assessment more than once over the past 3 years, please contact us. The EAAB have promised us that duplication would be avoided.
Over the past weeks we have received many queries with regards completion of the RMCP template required in the self-assessment.
Following a meeting with EAAB, we can confirm that Principals are only required to fill out the form to the best of their ability as some information is not yet available. For ease of reference we again include the RMPC template Rebosa designed to assist members. Please ignore the sections that require Rand amounts as the FIC is still to gazette these amounts. We will notify members when the amounts have been gazetted.
Should you have any further queries, or require clarity in this respect then please email info@rebosa.co.za
New EAAB Chief Executive Officer
We have been notified that the EAAB Board have finalised the appointment of a new CEO effective 11 February 2019. The new CEO replaces Mr Nikita Sigaba who has been acting since Bryan Chaplog was relocated.
Continuing Professional Development
All estate agents excluding only current intern estate agents, are reminded that they must register for participation in the 2019 CPD programme by no later than 31 March 2019. This is particularly relevant for those former intern estate agents who obtained full status as estate agents during the course of 2018.
For this purpose estate agents should access the “MyCPD” portal on the EAAB website (at www.eaab.org.za). The first step in the CPD registration process is to complete a Personal Development Plan (“PDP”) for the 2019 year. Once the PDP is completed to the satisfaction of the participant it must be sent to the EAAB by pressing the “submit” button.
On receipt of the PDP the participant will receive an acknowledgement e-mail from the EAAB in which details of the bank account into which the annual CPD payment (which remains unchanged at R2 500 for principal estate agents and R2 000 for non-principal estate agents) must be made are provided.
It is imperative that agents do not miss these deadlines. More than 4000 estate agents were not issued with FFCs for 2019 due to not completing the last CPD cycle. If you are an agent that has been disqualified due to CPD non-compliance, please read below on how to become reinstated:-
CPD DISQUALIFICATION APPLICATION PROCESS FLOW amendment 2
During a meeting with the EAAB we were notified that the CPD e-learning modules will be available on the site by the end of January 2019.
Case Law Update: Trading Without a Fidelity Fund Certificate – Claiming Commission and Enforcing a Restraint of Trade
There have been two recent cases dealing with agencies that traded without Fidelity Fund Certificates (FFC’s) which we thought would be of interest to you. A summary can be found Case Law Update – Trading without an FFC and full details can be accessed on the site below.
Rebosa AGM and Update on all Current Events
The Rebosa AGM will take place on the morning of 4 June 2019 in Cape Town.
Members will be updated on the progress of the Property Practitioners Bill and all relevant issues pertaining to the industry.
An update meeting will also be held on the morning of 7 June 2019 in Johannesburg.
Final arrangements, venues and agenda to follow soon. Please diarise the dates.
When in Doubt – Pay
Members are well advised to rather pay expected fees to the EAAB and dispute issues later than withholding payment.
For example, this applies in instances where a member may not have qualified in terms of a CPD cycle and wants to register for the next year. One can always address the CPD cycle issues but it is best to pay the fees for the next year even if it leaves your account in credit.
Waiting for an issue to be sorted out and then paying gives the EAAB the opportunity to penalise you for late payment.
A credit on your account does not hurt, a debit could have devastating results.
Kind regards
Jan
Jan le Roux
Chief Executive
REBOSA | (NPC) Company Registration 2011/12976/08
PostNet Suite #35 │Private Bag X3 │Plumstead │7801
Fax: 086 604 7245 │ Email: info@rebosa.co.za │ Website: www.rebosa.co.za
