Housecheck and Voetstoet Implications for Buyers

Bryan Chaplog, CEO of the EAAB  announced on national TV last Friday that a new law regulating estate agents will also be used to regulate home inspectors in South Africa The new law, the Property Practitioner’s Bill, is currently in draft stage and once it has been approved by the Cabinet, this Bill will be published for public comment - probably still in December.

Chaplog, together with John Graham CEO of HouseCheck, appeared  on the SABC TV consumer discussion programme Yilungelo Lako – It’s Your Right. Other important points made by Bryan during the hour-long panel discussion were:

• The new Property Practitioner’s Act will define and regulate the role of both agents and home inspectors.  Home inspectors will become a category of property practitioners and like estate agents they will also fall under the regulation of the EAAB.
• In terms of the new law, estate agents will be required to give buyers and sellers the option of using a home inspection service in order to get the comfort they need.

Speaking on the same panel I welcomed the pending change in legislation and pointed out that agents and sellers often found themselves in a difficult position because they were often unaware of serious defects in the property they were selling– for instance in the roof.  For this reason, it was important that agents recommended home inspection to their buyers.  

I said on the same panel that I supported the continued use of voetstoots by private one-off sellers of homes in order to provide necessary protection to private sellers and their agents.  However,  I stressed that estate agents have a duty to properly explain to buyers the full implications of a voetstoots sale and then to also advise the buyer to get a home inspection.   

On behalf of HouseCheck and SAHITA  (www.sahita.co.za)  I welcome the fact that the new law will compel agents to properly explain the implications of voetstoots and to recommend that the buyer obtain a home inspection.  I also support the fact that the South African home inspection industry is to be regulated by the EAAB.

All property practitioners - both agents and inspectors - have a professional duty to act in the best interests of the housing consumer.

Yours in property 

John Graham   CEO HouseCheck & Principal of SAHITA