EAAB needs to get its act together

The Estate Agents Affairs Board is a disgrace – and it’s an embarrassment to the property industry that it is meant to serve. If it had a group of private sector shareholders – rather than the Department of Trade and Industry – I have no doubt that the entire board would have been fired.

Paddy Hartdegen writes a regular column for Property24.com

Because that’s what they deserve.

I’m sure that thousands of estate agents watched last week’s Carte Blanche programme that exposed just how pathetic the EAAB actually is. And for those of you who did, I’m sure you’d agree with my sentiment that tears from a former compliance manager just don’t wash.

The EAAB epitomises the worst forms of incompetence, ineptitude and inability that unfortunately characterises so many of the government departments and state-owned enterprises in South Africa.

For many years the EAAB has been the bane of many estate agents’ lives and invariably it has been the focus of criticism and ridicule from those people who earn a living from selling houses.

Years ago I remember that there was a huge row over the insistence that the board examinations that it set – and that cost a lot of money to complete – amounted to an unfair practice and when this was combined with the fact that only “approved” textbooks compiled and owned by the board could be used for the exams the picture was even more bleak.

Had a hearing been lodged with the Competition Commission, I’m sure it would have found that this was a restrictive practice.

The agents rightly felt that they were victims of an unfair labour practice and were also the victims of price collusion. But those complaints pale into insignificance when you look at the 4 000 compliance certificates that have accumulated at the EAAB’s offices. And still there has been no proactive, decisive action from the EAAB to rectify the matter either.

The compliance certificates are dwarfed by other piles and piles of files that have been stashed away from the public eye in some back office without a single soul knowing what they contain or why they are there.

And this is the body that is supposed to regulate the industry. It’s about as stupid as asking a lion to mind a goat.

The EAAB is the regulatory authority that can prevent an agent from trading and can stop an individual from earning a living. Yet the EAAB cannot manage even the most simple of its tasks: sending a duly completed Fidelity Fund Certificate to the rightful owner at the correct address via registered mail.

How hard can that be?

That Fidelity Fund Certificate is the lifeblood of every agent in the country and yet, through the EAAB’s incompetence and by its own admission, more than 4 000 of these have simply not been received by the recipients.

What’s the explanation? There is none.

What are the measures that have been taken to rectify the mess?

At this point there is absolutely nothing worth mentioning. Here we are, in the middle of April 2011 and the FFCs were due to be renewed in October last year. Each principal agent has to pay R855 for the certificate; Each intern or full status agent has to pay R364,80 and there is a fine for late submission of R250 for each principal and R150 for each agent or intern.

What is the fine that the EAAB is paying for not supplying the certificates?

None. There’s no fine just as there is no consequence.

The EAAB walks away scot free, having collected at least R10-million from the private sector companies from fees deposited in its bank account for the FFCs. R10-million from that source alone.

The EAAB does what so many government departments and quasi-government departments do so often: take the money and spend it as they please.

There is no real difference between a lack of service delivery from municipal, provincial or government authorities and a lack of service delivery from the EAAB. Except that the government bodies might have a legitimate excuse whereas the EAAB has none.

And the assurances given by Portia Mofikoe, the communications manager at the EAAB during the Carte Blanche programme amounted to little more that justifications, rebuttals and excuses.

Where was the apology? Where was the admission: “We have let the property sector down very badly, we have failed in our mandate and we have not done a decent job. We know that and here’s what we have put in place to immediately rectify the problems.”

But there was no such admission, no contrition and no attempt to put things right.

If you log onto the EAAB’s web site today (www.eaab.org.za) you won’t find any apology to agents. There is method in place to track whether your certificate is among the ones that a sitting in a dusty corner of the Dunkeld offices. There’s no media release to say how sorry the EAAB is and how it intends to improve its service in the future.

And there’s no attempt at damage control either.

The most current comment is that it has extended the amnesty period by three months for those companies that are operating illegally.

Big deal. I wonder who has granted the EAAB a reprieve or given it three months to comply with delivery of services? Not a soul – and the EAAB’s attitude is as arrogant as the interviews proved it to be.

And it is backed by an empty promise that it will eventually get its house in order.

I really do wish that the Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, would disband the entire operation – as with the National Home Builders Registration Council and the Construction Sector Education and Training Authority – and hand the operation of all three enterprises over to private sector Section 21 companies instead.

That way the money paid by agents would not be wasted on inflated salaries and expensive overseas trips. It would be put to work serving the interests of the property market and the people who sell the houses and contribute almost 15% to South Africa’s gross domestic product.

Is that likely to happen? Well it’s about as likely as the ANC losing the municipal elections in every council in the country: a notion simply not worth considering.

But if the estate agents had the gumption I believe, they could get together, en masse and lobby the government for change and provide the DTI with a sensible alternative solution to the mess currently represented by the EAAB.

And that solution might be to form a new private sector section 21 company that would not become just another government department incapable of service delivery.

The property industry needs to rectify an untenable predicament. After all, that’s all the EAAB is: an embarrassing and shameful shambles.

*Hartdegen writes a regular column for Property24.com. The content of his columns constitutes his personal opinion and doesn’t pretend to be facts or advice. Contact him   via email.  

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I agree with everything Paddy   Hartdegen says about the estate Agents Board, but I have one more gripe to add: Having been an estate agent in South Africa, for almost 40 years now, I clearly remember the official Estate agent’s magazine “AGENT”, as a plain inexpensively produced little (black and white) magazine, brimful of really helpful information and legal  advice, including an analysis of recent  relevant court cases and the decisions taken. There was usually also information of recent applicable property Legislation, often by that well-respected authority of Property Law; Henk Delport.Now that we are paying R855 per year to the new (politically correct) EAAB, it has become a full-colour, glossy and  expensive-to-produce magazine filled with self-congratulatory articles by our “ esteemed” CEO etc. There is not much “knowledge” to be gained there anymore, and they are certainly not worth keeping on the shelf any longer for future reference! - Di

That is one the most honest articles about the inefficiency of the EAAB that I have read in a long time and I’ve been in this industry for 21 years!!! It’s shocking what is going on there!!! - Neil

Yes, Paddy is right. But where were he and the other journalists the past 5 years when we (estate agents) were shouting with frustration about the incapability of the EAAB? We have been complaining with everybody with half an ear, but nobody was interested in assisting us. We agents have been asking your assistance for a long period, but only now you are eager to put a penny’s worth in the hat. BUT, It also illustrates the importance of a free press, where you guys can have a huge influence on important matters. The Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa IEASA has managed to put a “helpline” in place through its regional offices, but that was dependant the “help” at the EAAB were capable. In effect it meant the IEASA regional chairman or secretary had to get in the car and drive there and go and tries to sort 20 to 25 problems at a time. (for us 850km there and back) This proved useful, to a point. Other Estate Agent organisations have also tried to get to a solution, which bore no fruit. The interest from the press in the EAAB only came because of the Wendy Mechanic properties debacle, and thereafter of the actions of the CEO of the EAAB. Would the press have bared the “embarrassing and shameful shambles” of the EAAB, had that not happened? It is common knowledge that some officials, employees etc working in public organisations, has no clue what they are doing there. Example: In Bloemfontein we sometimes wait up to two months for a Rates, water and electricity Clearance Certificate from the Mangaung Local council. We discussed this with the Municipality (who usually says there is not a person available to go do the water and electricity readings) we discussed it with the local press, who promised it is a story they would follow on, (not yet up to now) and we got legal advice. But we still struggle to get such from the Local municipality. Sometimes we agents go take photos of the water and electricity meters, do an affidavit about the photos, and try to get the municipality to issue such certificate to the transferring attorney. Remember, it is sometimes four linked transactions put on hold because some idiot official does not know what to do with the boxes full of Rates clearance applications on his desk! Thanks for your article - Jaco