Maryna holds the BA, LLB, LLM degrees and is a Director at the Cape Town branch of STBB. She is an admitted Attorney, Notary Public, Conveyancer and Insolvency Practitioner with many years of experience in the fields of property law, conveyancing and the laws relating to corporate compliance (especially in respect of the FICA and POPIA laws). Up until 2018 she was also head of the firm’s national marketing portfolio. She is a seasoned public speaker and presenter, both in person and online. She prepares text for the majority of STBB’s internal and external publications and is editor and co-writer for two pivotal publications in the South African real estate industry – the ABC of Conveyancing (JUTA) and Delport’s South African Property Law and Practice (JUTA).

  • Blog|31st May 2020

LEVEL 3 REQUIREMENTS FOR ESTATE AGENTS

Since the good news that many businesses may again operate under the Level 3 regulations that become effective tomorrow, 1 June, many questions have been raised by agents as to their responsibilities. Here is a list of important requirements:

 

  1. Everyone – agents, their clients and staff – must wear a face mask at all times in a public space.

As business owner/employer

  1. Employers must provide employees who may come into contact with members of the public as part of their duties, with a face mask.
  2. Every business must determine the area of its floor space and based thereon, determine the number of clients/customers that will be allowed at the premises at a given time. Should there be queuing, steps must be taken that the persons queue at least 1½  metres apart.
  3. Businesses must provide hand sanitiser for use by the public and employees at the entrance to the premises.
  4. Businesses must appoint a compliance officer who must monitor compliance with the regulations and the business’ COVID-19 policy document. (For a draft of this document that you can adapt for your business, see our Newsflash here – https://stbb.co.za/newsflash-level-3-news/.)
  5. Agencies must adopt measures to promote physical distancing, including to enable employees to work from home or minimising the need for employees to be physically present at the workplace;  restricting face to face meetings; and they must implement special measures for employees with known health issues as well as for employees who are above the age of 60 years.

Viewings & number of persons involved

  1. Apart from the aforementioned requirements which ultimately require the exercise of utmost care and promote social distancing, including avoidance of face to face meetings as far as possible, there is no additional restrictions on doing a viewing or on the amount of people attending the viewing.

Entering homeowners’ associations, sectional title schemes

  1. Some agents have reported that some such schemes are prohibiting them from entering the schemes, arguing that the regulations do not allow “visits”. This is an incorrect interpretation of the regulations. All businesses that are allowed to operate under Level 3, may do so freely, as long as all precautionary safety measures are adhered to.  An agent visiting a client in an estate is performing his/her duties as an agent in terms of a permitted Level 3 service.

For assistance with any further questions you may have, contact your STBB conveyancer.

 

 

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