JOHANNESBURG - If your estate agent didn’t have a Fidelity Fund Certificate – a valid license to operate when they sold or rented you property – legally they were not permitted to receive any remuneration for their services.
More than this, they are not even allowed to operate as an estate agent – much less earn a living from the trade. What’s alarming about this truth is that, according to the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB), about 10 years ago there were as many as 80 000 registered estate agents whereas today this figure is sitting somewhere in the region of 30 000.
Listen to the podcast below:
iol-12-quality or service control podcast.mp3
A tally that’s greatly reduced – if still in business, that puts 50 000 as the number of agents potentially operating illegally in SA and, from all accounts, many fall outside the realm of legitimate operators. What this means for consumers is they could avoid paying commission. In a world that’s full of scam artists, consumers must become more savvy to protect themselves. This is particularly true in the case of a property sale where transactions generally involve vast sums of money.
- EBIZ RADIO