The Real Estate Business Owners of SA (Rebosa) is taking the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) to court over failing to issue operating licences on time.

Rebosa has said the legal challenge follows years of attempted collaboration with the EAAB to rectify the board’s shortcomings.

Rebosa said it is acting on behalf of about 46 000 agents who have not been issued their Fidelity Fund Certificates (FFCs) for 2021, claiming that the EAAB has not only failed to deliver on its mandate of regulating, maintaining and promoting the standard of conduct of estate agents, it has become an active hindrance to their ability to conduct business in accordance with the law.

A Business Day report says in terms of the Estate Agency Affairs Act, an estate agent must have a valid FFC to receive any payment or commission arising from their duties as an estate agent.

‘By failing to meet its legal obligation to issue FFCs to qualified agents, the EAAB is forcing property practitioners to either refrain from operating, indefinitely, or break the law to feed their families,’ said Tony Clarke, chair of Rebosa and MD of the Rawson Property Group.

Theart Mey Attorneys said even if an FFC has been applied for, if a valid FFC is not held by an estate agent at the time of a transaction in terms of which they are claiming a commission or payment, the estate agent is not entitled to any commission or payment for such transaction.

Full Business Day report (subscription needed)