Page 20 - Nexia SAB&T Property and Tax Guide 2025

approved and the Board must upon written request by the applicant, produce
the Certificate within 10 days.
◆ A valid Fidelity Fund Certificate must be held for all property practitioners
within the agency or business. If an entity is a company, close corporation,
trust or partnership, then every director, member, trustee and partner in that
business must be issued with a Fidelity Fund Certificate, and failure to do so
constitutes an offence.
◆ The Regulations provide that a property practitioner, who, on 1 February 2022
holds a Fidelity Fund Certificate issued under the previous Act shall be entitled
to continue acting as a Property Practitioner under the Act, using such existing
Fidelity Fund Certificate, until the end of the year during which the effective
date falls.
◆ Consumer protection – Property Defects Disclosure
◆ It is mandatory for sellers or lessors to provide a comprehensive property
defects disclosure document as part of a property transfer or lease, which will
form part of the sale or lease agreement, and no mandate may be accepted
by a property practitioner from a seller or lessor without this document, and
a copy thereof must be provided to a prospective purchaser or lessee of the
property.
◆ Inspectors, Compliance Notices and Record Storage
◆ Inspectors may be appointed by the CEO of the Board of Authority. They
may, at any reasonable time, and without prior notice, warning or a warrant,
conduct an inspection at the business premises of any property practitioner in
order to determine whether the provisions of the Act have been complied with.
If the property practitioner conducts his business at his private residence, the
inspector must notify the property practitioner in advance and in writing. The
inspector may issue compliance notices- which could include the imposition
of a fine. The property practitioner is required to keep records, including
correspondence, legal agreements, copies of advertising and marketing
materials, for 5 years. These can be stored electronically.
◆ Mediation, Adjudication and Appeal
◆ The Board of Authority may consider complaints by members of the public
against property practitioners in respect of financing, marketing, managing,
letting, hiring and the sale and purchase of property, and may refer the
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