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).

Property Practitioners Act | Instalment 4

Your list of new administrative tasks, courtesy of the Property Practitioners Act

In case you missed our previous instalments.
Instalment #1
Instalment #2
Instalment #3

This is #4 in our short series of instalments on all the ducks to have in a row following the coming into operation of the Property Practitioners Act on 1 February 2022.

In this instalment, a list is provided of some new administrative tasks that the Act imposes.

  1. Diarise 1 October (or earlier) to start with the application process for your Fidelity Fund Certificate. All applications must be submitted by 31 October in the year that your current certificate expires. Remember that you need to lodge confirmation that your tax affairs are in order with the application; and, when applying for the FFC for the agency, also a BBBEE certificate.
    Going forward, FFCs will be issued for a period of 3 years, and you must then diarise accordingly.
  2. Make sure that you have systems in place to ensure that all records are maintained for 5 years. These records include: Agreements, Disclosure Forms, Mandates, Accounting records, and email communications with the public regarding transactions.
  3. Make sure to do the necessary training to get your CPD points,. Over a three year period, 12 points must be collected and you must ensure to achieve an allocation of 4 points per year (and not leave it all to one year).
  4. Add prescribed sentences to:
    • Letterheads and marketing material. The following prescribed wording must appear on all marketing material and letterheads: “Registered with PPRA” (and if it is a candidate using the material, this fact must be mentioned too).
    • If the agency has a trust account, the letterhead must also have a statement to this effect.
    • Agreements: Any agreement that the practitioner is involved in, must contain these words: ”[Insert name of property practitioner as defined in the agreement] hereby warrants the validity of his / her / its Fidelity Fund certificate as at the date of signature of this Agreement.”
  5. Email signatures and letterheads: Make sure that the capacity of the practitioner is mentioned, for example if he or she is a principal or non-principal agent.)

For more information, contact us at info@stbb.co.za

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