Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa Real Estate Investor Magazine - July 2017 | Page 17

Owners’ Association), a seller of time share or fractional
title, a property manager and a property developer.
The only exclusions from this definition are attorneys
and candidate attorneys, sheriffs of the court, a person
offering property practitioner services but not in the
normal course of his business, and a person selling his
own property (but excluding a property developer).
Establishment of the Office of the Ombud
Section 20 of the Bill brings real estate in line with
other service industries like insurance and banking, as
it establishes the Property Practitioners Ombud. This is
an important development as it takes the responsibility
for consumer complaints away from the regulatory
www.reimag.co.za
authority and vests this in an independent body, as is
the case in the financial services industry.
The Ombud will receive complaints from the public
against property practitioners and follow a prescribed
process in dealing with these complaints. The Bill
allows for a mediation procedure and an adjudication
procedure, in the hope that mediation will dispose of
many less serious complaints quickly and efficiently.
Also of note with regard to the Ombud’s authority is that
he may hear disputes between property practitioners,
but only if both parties agree to this.
Expanded Powers of Inspectors
Following the debacle involving the unlawful seizing of
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