REBOSA 5 September 2016 Report

Dear Colleagues

Spring has arrived and the end of the year is in sight.  We have had an extraordinarily busy past month.  One of the highlights was hosting the NAR delegation and for those of you who could not attend the talk given by NAR’s President, Tom Salomone, I have included a link to one of his previous talks which includes similar touch points to the ones he shared with us in Cape Town.  I have also included presentations from ABSA and Private Property which many agents who attended the event found interesting.  Please visit our website for more on this.

The EAAB have opened a satellite office in Cape Town and their contact details are included below.

Lastly, if you have not registered on the FIC’s new reporting system goAML, we urge you to do so immediately.  This affects all real estate business owners directly so please read below if you are unsure how to go about registering.

Thank you for reading on.

Kind regards

Jan

PrivySeal

The EAAB’s intention with the launch of the PrivySeal initiative, is to communicate with consumers to only deal with legally registered estate agents and to thus enable consumers to determine the status of estate agents with ease.

This initiative is in the interests of all legally registered estate agents.

We therefore, strongly recommend that you register as soon as possible so as to support the programme and not be disadvantaged should you interact with consumers who are aware of this.

Please note that this is more an opportunity than an obligation.  It is true that the notice from the board can be read and understood as to be obligatory, but this is not the case and the EAAB is not in a position to prejudice any legally registered estate agent for not registering with PrivySeal.

We do however, support this initiative in the interests of consumers and professionalising our industry.  Many of our members have supported the initiative and as such buyers and sellers are already aware of its merits.

SSETA – Gauteng Skills Development Forum

REBOSA are pleased to announce that our nomination submission for Ms Thembile Cele, to serve on the SSETA Gauteng Provincial Office – Skills Development Forum was successful.  Ms Cele is the current Human Resource Consultant for the Gauteng Region of Pam Golding Properties.  We are looking forward to furthering our relationship with SSETA to the benefit of our members and this platform is another link in the chain to greater collaboration in respect of skills development.  We wish Ms Cele every success in representing us in this forum and we will keep you informed of all developments that arise from this new appointment.

SAQA – Recognition of Prior Learning Reference Group

REBOSA are pleased to announce that our nomination submission for Dr Karen Deller, to serve on the SAQA Recognition of Prior Learning Reference Group was successful.  Dr Deller owned and managed a successful RPL Centre for 12 years and wrote her PhD thesis on “RPL in South Africa”.  She is an ardent advocate and committed ambassador for RPL in real estate.  We wish Dr Deller every success in this reference group to the benefit of our members and look forward to building our relationship with SAQA and advancing the objectives of the NQF.

SSETA – DITASA Rescue Plan

Over the past two months, REBOSA has been working very closely with SSETA around the rescue plan that has been implemented for all estate agents who were previously enrolled with DITASA and who have not as yet been certified by SSETA.

Chartall Business College has been appointed by Services SETA to assist and support all the learners who were enrolled, but not exited, by DITASA on these two qualifications:

• FETC: Real Estate, NQF Level 4 (SAQA ID: 59097)
• NC: Real Estate, NQF Level 5 (SAQA ID: 20188)

Please find attached to this report a detailed project plan relating to all learners who have been affected by DITASA’s demise, as well as a report from SSETA prescribing the way forward.

Learners are requested to send Chartall Business College an email requesting them to confirm registration.   They have set up a dedicated email address for this project:-

realestate@chartall.co.za.

All queries must be directed to them via email.

It has further been noted that some learners received their portfolios back from DITASA.  In this instance these Learners must please send their portfolios to Chartall Business College as soon as possible i.e. courier or hand delivery.  Some Learners do not have NLRD forms in their portfolios. These will be forwarded once Chartall have confirmed that the respective Learners’ name appears on the list provided by SSETA.

Any further queries in this regard must be forwarded and addressed to:-

realestate@chartall.co.za

Fidelity Fund Certificate Renewal Deadline

Fidelity Fund Certificates must be renewed by 31 October 2016.

With the deadline looming this will obviously cause a bottleneck in the EAAB system, therefore early submission will facilitate better responses.  We therefore, urge you to renew your FFC as a matter of extreme urgency.

You are further advised to ensure that detail of the estate agency and that of the agent on your MyEAAB Agents Portal on the EAAB website is correct. Should you find any errors please advise the EAAB accordingly as discrepancies may delay the issuing of FFC’s.  Should a response not be forthcoming during October, please contact the EAAB by email and copy us so that we can assist in the follow up process.

It is of the utmost importance that you renew your FFC’s electronically i.e. online at https://www.eaab.org.za/myffc

Proof of renewal payments should be sent to finance@eaab.org.za

A detailed schedule of fees and the process to apply can be found by clicking on the following link: –

https://www.eaab.org.za/article/2017_ffc_renewal_fees_and_process

SSETA: Discretionary Grant Application

The Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Services SETA) is inviting suitable employers, stakeholders and interested parties to apply for discretionary grant funding.  These grants are intended to meet the sector needs as set out in the Sector Skills Plan (SSP), Strategic Plan and the priorities outlined in the National Skills Development Strategy III (NSDSIII).

The allocation of funds is intended for programmes and projects that improve the supply of qualified and competent people for scarce and critical skills.  Furthermore, it is also intended for programmes that include practical and theoretical components that are meaningful for the development of the individual and achieve substantial progress towards a qualification.

Finally, the allocation of funds is intended to provide external mentoring support and training for business owners and learners.

The 2016/17 Discretionary Grants Briefing Session document can be found below:-

20160818_DG_Advert Briefing_Applyingfor SSETADG_All Provinces_v3

To view the full advertisement, application process and application forms you can visit the website on the link provided below:-

http://sseta.grantsportal.org/

The application window is open from the 17 August 2016 08:00am to 18 September 2016 12:00 pm (midnight).

Financial Intelligence Centre

On 23 August, Rebosa attended an information session aimed to assist Estate Agents with the new Registration and Reporting System of The Financial Intelligence Centre – goAML

This affects all real estate business owners.  If you have still not registered or updated your entity on the new goAML system or added new users please do so immediately.

Further information can be found on FIC website:  https://goweb.fic.gov.za/goAMLWeb_PRD/Home

Please note that all queries relating to goAML should be directed as follows:-

Log a query via the FIC website – Compliance Queries:-

https://www.fic.gov.za/ContactUs/Lists/Compliance%20Queries/NewForm.aspx?Source=/Pages/Home.aspx

or

Write to the FIC at feedback@fic.gov.za

or

Contact the FIC via the Call Centre at 0860 222 200

City of Cape Town Quarterly Meeting with Property Marketing Sector

On 4 August, 2016 Rebosa attended a meeting hosted by The Mayoral Committee member for Energy, Environmental and Spatial Planning who invites representatives from industry organisations active in the Property Marketing Sector to a quarterly meeting with the City of Cape Town. The focus of the meeting is on the property marketing activities of our members, including outdoor advertising and signage. Rebosa continues to be an active participant on this committee to safeguard the interests of our members in respect of “on show boards” and other outdoor advertising activity.

EAAB Cape Town Support Office

The EAAB have opened a satellite office in Cape Town.

Details are as follows:-

Lucinda Peitler
Office Administrator: Cape Town Regional Office
EAAB
8^th Floor
Constitution House
124 Adderley Street
Cape Town

Tel: 021 422 0668
Cell: 083 399 4457
Email: lucinda@eaab.org.za

The National Association of Realtors (NAR)

REBOSA together with IEASA were thrilled to host a high level delegation from the NAR including the President, Mr Tom Salomone and past President Mr Chris Polychron along with CEO, Mr Dale Stinton and Janet Branton, Senior Vice President of Global and Commercial Services.  Thanks must go to Ms Nancy Macaluso our SA/NAR liaison who worked tirelessly to make it all possible.

Aside from a very successful talk given by Mr Salomone on “A Changing Industry: The Relevance of the Estate Agent” on 10 August in Cape Town, the overarching objective of our cooperation agreement is to promote global best practice amongst estate agents and provide a platform for professional development and the exchange of research and information on relevant global issues.

The NAR remains the largest trade association in the United States with over 1,2 million members and has an extensive global network, maintaining partnerships with 80 Associations in 60 Countries of which REBOSA is one.

If you were unable to attend this event, please visit the link below to view Tom’s insights on the relevance of the Estate Agent and the voice for real estate!

http://www.realtor.org/videos/presidents-address-tom-salomone-nar-2016-president

 

NAR – REBOSA Event Presentations

Private Property Presentation Rebosa Event 10 August

Absa Presentation REBOSA Event 10 August 2016

 

EAAB Queries

The EAAB have instituted a new online system whereby all registrations, FFCs etc. need to be applied for, and followed up online.  Whilst we wish to help all our member with their EAAB queries and the resultant backlogs, it has become increasingly impossible for us to address each and every query we receive on a daily basis.  In the past month REBOSA received 3 898 emails to its info@rebosa.co.za address, primarily regarding EAAB queries.   As we mentioned from the start, REBOSA’s membership model was based on running a lean organisational structure so that all its members’ fees could be allocated to driving our members’ agenda and protecting their interests as opposed to an admin heavy structure.

With our limited resources it has become unattainable to solve each and every one of your EAAB queries on a daily basis.  With your understanding and cognisance of the bigger job at hand – looking after your interests in the greater legislative sphere – we are requesting that you follow due procedure and submit your queries, information, renewals etc. online to the respective EAAB email addresses and we ask that you copy us at info@rebosa.co.za on same.

We have negotiated with the EAAB that they will dedicate 1 day per month to Fiona Chaitowitz, our REBOSA/EAAB liaison, to then iron out and resolve queries that remain outstanding for whatever reasons.  Fiona will keep a running schedule of all queries that are brought to her attention and these will be handed to the EAAB at the monthly meetings.

We hope this will receive you favourable response.