THE ESTATE AGENCY AFFAIRS BOARD
FORGES AHEAD TO BECOME A WORLD
CLASS REGULATOR
I
t is self-evident that the property
sector in general, and the estate
agency environment in particular,
continues to evolve and expand as
it seeks to identify and accommodate the on-going demands of a rapidly changing socio-political-economic
environment and property landscape.
It has been necessary for the EAAB, in
particular, to deal with, amongst others, such pertinent issues as:
• the imperative of transforming the
sector to ensure that it speedily
conforms to the demographic realities of a democratic South Africa;
• the continuing professionalisation
of estate agency as a career of
choice with all that this broad objective necessarily entails;
• the development and implementation of enhanced and ‘fit for purpose’ query management systems
to provide better and more efficient
services to stakeholders;
• substantial investment in modern
IT systems;
• the implementation of appropriate
consumer awareness campaigns;
• the establishment of regional offices to meet the needs of all estate
agents;
• making Information Technology
and other resources available to
estate agents from previously disadvantaged communities to ensure that they are able to achieve
reputational and financial success
in a relatively new sector where
they are concerned; and
• encouraging an awareness of, and
the introduction of appropriate
steps and measures to eliminate,
any residue aspects of discrimination and/or racism, of whatsoever
nature, occurring within the sector.
It can be appreciated that the effective and successful implementation of
these specific programmes requires
significantly enhanced resources,
both financial and human. The success of such programmes, moreover,
is intended to redound to the benefit
of all stakeholders, specifically including estate agency professionals and
the consumers with whom they daily
interact.
Registrations - The EAAB has taken all
steps necessary to ensure that the turnaround time for the issuing, and renewal, of fidelity fund certificates has been
significantly reduced and is presently
exploring all other feasible avenues to
reduce turnaround times yet further.
Audit online compliance - The EAAB
has over the years endeavoured to make
the submission of mandatory annual auditor’s reports as user-friendly as possible. In pursuance of its modernisation
and optimisation programme such reports can only be submitted by auditor’s
online which significantly expedites the
assessment and updating of such reports. The number of non-compliant estate agencies has consequently shown
a marked decline which bodes well for
the sector as a whole.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) - The launch of the EAAB’s
Continuing Professional Development
programme commenced during 2015
when the EAAB delivered over 176 CPD
contact sessions nationally. Well over
13 000 estate agents completed the
CPD programme between May and December 2015. To facilitate participation
in the mandatory CPD programmme
the EAAB also introduced an e-learning CPD progranme and empirical evidence indicates that significantly more
estate agents are completing their CPD
through the e-learning process. This
is to be welcomed and it is intended
for this purpose to be significantly enhanced during 2017.
Racism, discrimination and other
forms of intolerances - There can be
little doubt that acts of racism are not
only contrary to the integrity of estate
agents in general but also bring the estate agency profession into disrepute.
The EAAB unequivocally distances itself
from any discrimination on the grounds
of race, gender, religion, nationality, or
any other factors, and intends doing everything within its regulatory and authorative powers to remove all vestiges of
racism and discrimination wherever they
may occur within the estate agency sector.
Multi Stakeholder Group (MSG) - The
EAAB is most gratified to announce the
successful establishment of a MultiStakeholder Group comprising both
itself and estate agency sector representative organisations. The underlying
objective in creating the Multi-Stakeholder Group, which previously met on a
monthly basis, to identify, discuss and, of
course, hopefully resolve the many pertinent concerns, issues and challenges
which members of the estate agency
profession, in its many differentiated
spheres, generally encounted.
The One Learner - One Estate Agency
Youth Brigade Empowerment programme - While the ‘One Learner – One
Estate Agency” Youth Brigade Empowerment programme has proved to be
most successful, and is to be accelerated during 2017. I do look forward to
the continued active co-operation of
our stakeholders in the furtherance of
this meaningful endeavour and trust
that I may continue to rely upon your cooperation and support in effecting the
required radical change which the real
estate sector so urgently requires if it is
to safeguard its continued sustainability.
This can be viewed on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGsnXOJKEeI
It should be emphasised that that EAAB
will continue to strive that the full resources of the EAAB, both human and
financial, are effectively applied towards
maximising and optimising the regulatory and professional body activities
that have been entrusted to the EAAB in
the joint interests of both the consumers and property practitioners which the
EAAB serves.
The EAAB would also like to extend their sincere congratulations to
RE/MAX Property Associates for
reaching their 20th year Anniversary
and wish them many years of success.
Bryan Chaplog CA (SA)
Chief Executive Officer
Tel: 0872853222
www.eaab.org.za
[email protected]