EAAB given strict timeline to get its affairs in order
The Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) has to get its affairs in order urgently, or face being in contempt of a high court ruling that it is failing South Africa’s Real Estate industry.
In the final judgement in the case brought before the court by the Real Estate Business Owners of South Africa (REBOSA) at the end of January 2021, the court ruled in favour of estate agents still awaiting their Fidelity Fund Certificates (FFCs), with full costs.
Rebosa Chief Executive Jan le Roux welcomed the judgement that “highlights the plight of the average agent”.
“This judgement opens the doors to working closer to the EAAB in order to fix the challenges and to have a closer and better working relationship with our regulator for an enhanced professional future of our industry”.
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First-time home buyers are not taking advantage of over R100m in housing subsidies
Of the concluded mortgage deals in the income range R3,501 to R22,000 about 57% of FNB retail customers qualified for Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) with an estimated potential value of R100 million - but the "challenging process to apply means many are missing out.
Despite this, only a small fraction of these customers actually took up FLISP as part of their home purchasing journey. This small take up is as a result of the challenging process to take up FLISP, which results in property practitioners not prioritising deals linked to FLISP.
FNB confirmed it has grown its affordable housing property lending book by 24% (R6.3 billion) year on year to help entry-level first-time buyers with owning a home.
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Problem tenants? These are the only conditions for eviction right now under adjusted Alert Level 1
Legal Expert Simon Dippennaar takes a look at exactly what is permitted under the new, “adjusted” Alert Level 1 when it comes to rental housing and evictions.
It’s hard to keep up. The regulations for each Alert Level seem to vary each time a level is announced. Adjusted Level 3 was not the same as Level 3 first time round, and the same appears to hold true for Adjusted Level 1. So what exactly is permitted, especially with regard to rental housing and evictions?
Evictions under Alert Level 1
The situation regarding evictions and demolitions has not changed very much throughout the national state of disaster. The priority has always been to protect vulnerable tenants, particularly those whose economic circumstances have caused them to fall behind in rental payments as a direct consequence of the lockdown. The rules have eased from the outright ban of Level 5 and, since Level 4, landlords have been permitted to apply for an eviction order, but it would be suspended or “stayed” until the termination of the national state of disaster.
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Saving on monthly utilities | What are the benefits of a prepaid meter?
As South Africa readies for an electricity price hike of 16% this April, more and more households are switching to prepaid to save on utility costs.
Buying property on Auction can be daunting and a slightly emotional experience. But it is also a convenient, effective and transparent process, says MC du Toit, CEO for BidX1 South Africa. He shares the following useful tips for sellers and buyers of both residential and commercial property:
Prepaid is believed to have many advantages to better manage and monitor daily usage. And with utility costs increasing and tenants experiencing unprecedented financial pressures due to the Covid-19 pandemic, prepaid is one way for them to only use what they can afford.
According to provider Uvend, private submetering allows landlords or building managers to install prepaid water and electricity submeters to any lettable space, giving them the advantage of recovering the costs for these utilities on a prepaid basis.
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