Nick Wilson

AMENDMENTS to the property charter may be necessary to cater for estate agents.

As it now stands, the draft property charter, which was released at the end of the last month, appears to apply more to the commercial property sector, which includes listed property unit trusts, property loan stock companies and developers.

This was the impression given at a round-table discussion on the property charter hosted by real estate group Jawitz Properties. The discussion was attended by the media, Estate Agency Affairs Board CEO Nomonde Mapetla and Musa Ngcobo, chairman of commercial property association Sapoa’s property charter committee.

Attendees told the media that extra submissions from the estate agency industry may be needed.

The various scorecards and targets that were released with this draft focused on different areas, among them, ownership, procurement, asset disposals, management and board representativity.

While some of these areas apply to real estate agents and commercial property brokers, others may not.

One area that poses a problem is the asset disposal category in the charter. The draft’s five-year targets stipulate that companies that dispose of 35% of all property assets to black economic empowerment companies can score nine points out of a possible 100.

However, estate agents and brokers sell "goodwill" as they do not own the properties they sell. They feel that an exemption or additional wording for the charter document may be required.

Andy Tondi, chairman of the property industry steering committee that drew up the draft charter, says the board was involved in the property charter process from the beginning.

"Right from the beginning we asked estate agency groups for submissions and none were forthcoming and we ended up having to have workshops with them to explain the process," says Tondi.

He says the current targets and scorecards in the draft charter document would apply to the entire property industry, but there would be "some specific considerations" when it comes to estate agents.

"There won’t be changes in the charter but there will be specific inclusions that apply," says Tondi.

Musa Ngcobo says the property charter document is still a "fluid" document and could still include some changes.

He says it has been sent to the national public works department, which may have some comments or changes to add.

After that it has to go to the trade and industry department for alignment with its codes of good practice. The document then goes back into the public domain for a public review.

"The document now captures principles and values we as a sector want to take forward," says Ngcobo.

He says the steering committee is expecting the board to bring the focus on transformation to estate agents and allow them to "find their place within the property charter as it stands".

Ngcobo agrees that the property charter and its targets and scorecards apply far more to the commercial property sector, including large residential developers.

He says most of the groupings that proactively took part from the beginning of the property charter process were from the commercial property sector. "About four months ago we said estate agency groups should have a parallel process," says Ngcobo.

He says the board put together a document, including targets and principles, which was handed to the steering committee.

"The property charter process is about constant consultation," says Ngcobo.

Meanwhile, Mapetla says the board is "making room for more exemptions" on areas that do not directly affect estate agents.

"We have drawn up a document and submitted it to the steering committee and they are going to give us written comments and we’re going to take it back for further discussion," she says.