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A leading South African real estate group has called for the unbundling of the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) and for the real estate industry to be allowed to "revert to self-regulation", reports property website Property24.

The report says the call from RE/MAX of Southern Africa comes in the wake of the EAAB being publicly criticised by a number of real estate industry players and particularly the Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa (IEASA) alleging the EAAB is incompetent, does not respond to telephone calls and often fails altogether to issue fidelity fund certificates or falls short in issuing them timeously to estate agents.

Vociferously denied
By law, in order to claim commission, estate agents must be in possession of valid fidelity fund certificate, which are issued annually.

Nomande Mapetla, CEO at the EAAB, has vociferously denied the allegations, retaliating with claims of agents being unscrupulous and that her efforts to clean up the industry are being resisted by estate agents.

Jeanne van Jaarsveldt, marketing and finance director of RE/MAX of Southern Africa, says the EAAB has failed in its mandate as a public protector and also in gearing up the industry's professionalism. He also disputes Mapetla's claims that fidelity fund certificates are being issued in time to estate agents pointing out that in June 2006 Mapetla publicly admitted that criticism of the board's under performance in servicing industry and consumer inquiries was to some extent justified.

"Sadly, the situation since then has barely improved and I have serious reservations that under its present stewardship it will get better."

Van Jaarsveldt is particularly concerned at the spate of bad publicity currently being given the industry by Mapetla's alleged utterances in newspapers that it is made up of unscrupulous agents or that many are from failed careers or have been charged with fraud while others are resisting transformation of the industry.

"I find her remarks offensive to our professional integrity and unbecoming of a person in her leadership position." He called upon her to substantiate her claims.

Van Jaarsveldt, who recently returned from a RE/MAX international gathering in the United States, believes the local real estate industry, when measured against other countries, has reached a very high level of professionalism, "through no fault, or encouragement or even support of the EAAB".

Van Jaarsveldt believes that both consumer and industry interests would be better served if the board was deregulated and the industry was allowed self-regulation.

Although isolated instances of bad practices still prevailed, mainly as a result of the EAAB's continued inability to have a reasonable barrier of entry, he was of the view that given the current softening market conditions under-performing agents would soon be weeded out through market forces. "Only the truly professional agents with access to world class training and technology will survive and we are seeing this trend shaping up already."

Swelling the industry
A more recent factor enabling self-regulation was the emergent voice of the Institute of the Estate Agents, which had recently absorbed the National Association of Realtors (NAREA) into its ranks and thereby swelling its industry presence into its most powerful in recent times. "Given the strength of this revitalisation I believe it is now able to promote and guide a deregulated industry."

Although some 80 000 estate agents had been registered with the Board last year, he expected the "cleansing process" would reduce the number of active agents to around 35 000. These would essentially be the fittest and most professional, which was "good news for both the consumer and industry".

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