Estate agents must embrace ongoing training and development
With the EAAB (Estate Agency Affairs Board) clamping down on agents trading in the real estate industry who have not renewed or ever applied for their Fidelity Fund Certificates (FFC), as well as disqualifying agents for noncompliance with their Continuing Professional Development, it is now more important than ever to insist on continuous training as an essential part of operating within this industry.
This is the word from Cornel Haskins, sales manager at property company SAProperty.com, who notes that the new Property Practitioners Bill was passed by the National Assembly on 4 December 2018 and has now been sent to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence, and this will change a) the governing body for the real estate industry and b) the way this industry is run - what is important is continued work at upskilling all agents.
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SA's ever-evolving retail property market: selling to ‘cash-strapped’ consumers
Competition in South Africa’s retail market is intense, with more than 25 million square metres of formal retail space currently, in excess of 2 000 existing shopping centres and close to three million square metres of formal retail space in the pipeline.
“In the face of increased competition, shopping centre owners, developers, managers and retailers need to be alert to and agile in responding to the latest trends, consumer behaviour and technology in a fast-paced, ever-evolving industry,” says Elaine Wilson, Director of Broll Property Intel, the research division of leading Pan-African property services group, Broll.
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Court rules against high interest rates charged by bodies corporate
The recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal where the body corporate of Gardens Lodge in Cape Town was found to have charged a “patently exorbitant” interest rate on levies that were outstanding, is a lesson to many other bodies corporate in the way members’ outstanding levy accounts should be managed.
So says Michael Bauer, managing director of SAProperty.com, a property company that offers sectional title and HOA management services as well as sales and letting services. “Charging interest on overdue levies is not meant to be an income stream for the body corporate but rather a deterrent mechanism, something put in place to prevent owners from falling into arrears with their levy accounts.”
In this particular case, the owner challenged an interest rate of 34.8% per annum, compounded monthly, which added to an amount of R233 383. Over and above the interest, the body corporate had added charges for legal monitoring and collection of the outstanding debt.
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