Property Practitioners Bill [B21B-2018]

Despite having an estimated value of six trillion Rand, the South African property sector has been slow to address transformation and increase the number of participants, especially among the youth and previously disadvantaged.

The objective of the Bill is to repeal the Estate Agency Affairs Act, 1076 (Act No. 112 of 1996). This 42-year-old Act was meant to provide for the Estate Agency Affairs Board and the Estate Agency Fidelity Fund, and for the control of certain activities of estate agents in the public interest. Outdated as it is, the Act does not assist government to achieve the outcome of improving the functioning of the property market, which includes regulating the buying, selling and renting of land and buildings. Furthermore, the Act in its current form does not assist to meet the needs of South African communities and does not accommodate the dynamic needs of the real estate industry.

Existing legislation continues to:

• Perpetuate exclusion of some people in other areas
• Promote weak monitoring of state agency matters
  
• Encourage rampant embezzlement of clients’ funds
  
• Fail to provide mechanisms for monitoring the continuous mushrooming of unregistered estate agents, contributing negatively to the functional property market

The Bill, therefore, seeks to

• Establish a Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority
  
• Provide for the appointment of the Board of the Regulatory Authority (and other matters connected therewith)
  
• Put in place better monitoring mechanisms as compared to the current section 32A of the Estate Agency Affairs Act which provide inspectors with wide powers of search and seizure on premises without proper authority. The Bill requires that inspectors now obtain a warrant to enter premises.

Read more about the Property Practitioners’ Bill, its purpose and its envisaged impact on the economy and society in the documents below: