
In a move that it hopes will increase the number of trained Sectional Title portfolio managers in SA, property management company Trafalgar has launched its own academy.
This will offer an intensive six-month training course for graduates with degrees in law, finance or property and provide them with the specialist knowledge and skills to manage a portfolio of between 30 and 40 Sectional Title schemes, followed by a six-month period of hands-on learning.
“There are currently about 35 000 Sectional Title schemes in SA, and more are being developed all the time, so there is an increasing need for trained managers who can ensure that they operate as they should,” says Trafalgar MD Andrew Schaefer.
“But while there are great courses available for those who need to manage a single scheme, there has until now been no formal additional training for those wanting to make a career out of managing a whole group of Sectional Title buildings in an efficient and cost-effective manner. The job can also be quite daunting in terms of the significant overtime requirements associated with after-hours trustees’ and directors’ meetings.”
Consequently, he says, trained portfolio managers are very difficult to recruit. “The excellent portfolio managers we currently have, for example, have all had to learn as they went along, absorbing knowledge from others who have been in the business longer than them - and passing it on to those with less experience. Now what we will be doing is formalizing that learning into specific modules - and bringing in our top experts in the various disciplines to provide the training.”