Page 24 - Nexia SAB&T Property & Tax Guide 2022

THE PROPERTY PRACTITIONERS ACT

The Property Practitioners Act (22 of 2019) came into operation on 1 February 2022. The Act
repeals the Estate Agency Affairs Act (112 of 1976), and aims to regulate all property
practitioners (not just estate agents), including estate agents and agencies, property brokers,
home inspectors, providers of bridging finance, bond brokers, marketers, auctioneers, property
managers, sellers of time share, developers, rental agents, home owner associations (where
a service is provided as intermediary primarily to sell/lease property in that home owner’s
association), digital portals that publicly exhibit properties, and employees of attorneys who
act as estate agents. The Act specifically excludes a person who does not carry out any of
these functions in the ordinary course of business, and a natural person who sells their own
property (even if it is in the ordinary course of business), as well as attorneys, candidate
attorneys and the Sheriffs of the Court. The Act applies to the marketing, promotion, managing,
sale, letting, financing and purchase of immovable property. Some of the key changes it
intro duces are as follows:
◆ The Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority (PPRA)
❖ The Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) has been replaced by the PPRA, known as
the Board of Authority, which governs the property practitioners profession (not just
estate agents. It is also required to conduct campaigns to educate and inform the
general public of their rights and the obligations of property practitioners.
◆ Transformation of Property Sector
❖ When procuring property related goods and services, all organs of state must utilise
the services of property practitioners who comply with the broad-based black
economic empowerment and employment equity legislation and policies.
❖ The PPRA must, within 6 months of its establishment, open a Property Sector
Transformation Fund, into which grants are paid- with the aim of benefiting
previously disadvantaged individuals (small black-owned property practitioners).
❖ The Board must also consult with the services SETA to develop special dispensation
for training and development of the historically disadvantaged.
❖ The Minister may prescribe measures to promote economic transformation by
facilitating the accessibility of finance for property ownership, development and
investment in order to enable meaningful participation of historically disadvantaged
individuals including women, youth and the disabled.
❖ A purchaser/seller/tenant/lessor can request the agreement to be in any of South
Africa’s official languages, and this must be supplied by the seller.
◆ Exemptions in respect of accounting records and trust accounts
❖ These exemptions are introduced to assist transformation within the industry.
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