New measure to stop estate agent fraud

ABOUT 50 000 estate agents could be operating illegally in South Africa‚ the Estate Agency Affairs Board says.

Now the board, which governs the industry‚ has introduced a mandatory counterfraud measure for all registered estate agents to distinguish the genuine operators from the fakes.

The board said that rogue agents who did not have a fidelity fund certificate – a valid licence to operate – were not entitled to receive any remuneration for their services when renting or selling property.

According to the EAAB‚ there were about 80 000 registered estate agents 10 years ago. Today that figure sits at about 30 000.

“That puts the number of agents potentially operating illegally in South Africa [at] 50 000‚” board spokeswoman Margie Campbell said.

All registered estate agents are now compelled to display their EAAB privy seals as a means of countering qualification fraud and protecting the public and legitimate estate agents.

“If your estate agent doesn’t have an EAAB privy seal‚ they have very likely not been issued with a valid fidelity fund certificate by the EAAB,” Campbell said.

More than 19 000 EAAB privy seals have been issued to compliant estate agents.

The seals must be displayed by all registered estate agents in their e-mail signatures‚ their online and social media profiles‚ alongside property listings and in all marketing material.

“If your estate agent isn’t showing the privy seal in their e-mail‚ ask to see it or look for another estate agent, because if they aren’t displaying this certification they could be operating under the radar,” Campbell said.

Attorney Stephen Logan‚ the brains behind the anti-fraud certificate‚ said it was a digital seal of authenticity that only displays if a qualification has been verified as genuine.

“It displays the date and time a qualification was last checked,” he said.

“With qualifications digitally checked every few minutes‚ the process provides real-time online verification.”