Haigh Farming (Pty) Ltd v E.G Elliot Estate CC (14175/2013) [2015] ZAKZPHC 47 2 October 2015) Judgement
Does this judgement leave the door open for canvassers of properties for sale without FFC’s?
Annetjie van Rooyen – Director at STBB answers this question.
The judgment does support payment of consultation fees and spotter fees to third parties who do not have FFCs. The court emphasized though, that this was the position on the particular facts of that matter. The third party had extensive knowledge of agricultural properties and business and was therefore an “expert” and it made sense that he would be a “consultant” in certain deals.
The same with regard to the spotting – he only did that and nothing more, i.e. he never performed activities that would bring him within the definition of an estate agent. This was an important consideration in the judgment: the comparison on the one hand between the Act’s definition of an estate agent on the one hand, and on the other, the activities that Haigh undertook.
In any instance it is always a factual enquiry.
