SUBJECT: EAAB – FFC’S NOT A DISAPPOINTMENT BUT A SUCCESS

Dear Ms. Meissenheimer

The Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) would like to place the following on record with regards to your article published on propertyprofessional.co.za on 16 January 2020 headlined “EAAB disappoints”.

The tone of the article suggests that the EAAB  reneged on its promise to issue FFC’s to all legally compliant estate agents who paid their fees on time.  It further creates the impression that the FFC process is in tatters.

We categorically refute these allegations in the strongest terms and state the facts as follows:

1. The EAAB received 29 727 applications from estate agents who were fully compliant and paid before 31 October 2019.  All 29 727 applications were processed and issued by 20 December 2019.

2. Additional capacity was made available In December to reconcile outstanding FFC matters.

3. By end of business on 20 December 2019 a total of 30 483 FFC’s were issued, including the 29 727 applications from legally compliant agents.  The EAAB offices closed on 20 December, but skeleton staff remained to attend to outstanding FFC’s.

4. On 10 December 2019 REBOSA sent the EAAB a list with outstanding FFC’s. This list was cleared by 20 December 2019.

5. On Wednesday 15 January 2020 REBOSA sent another list of 740 outstanding FFC queries.  In just two days EAAB staff managed to deal with 593 queries on this list. (Please see table below of breakdown of FFC’s).

6. The second list from REBOSA has several duplications as some of the estate agents on the list have contacted the EAAB separately.  Some of the FFC’s on the list had been issued prior to REBOSA submitting the second list.

7. The delay in issuing some FFC’s is due to late renewals and payments, estate agents paying the wrong amounts and in some cases submitting incorrect details. There are also cases of deregistered or blocked agents.

8. We again confirm we have done an exceptional job by issuing 33165 FFC’s timeously and thus ensured continued economic activity of our estate agents.BREAKDOWNTOTAL QUERIES HANDLED 593FFC’s issued 334
   Cancelled FFC’s 12
   Blocked agents 15
   Deregistered agents 13
   Proof of payments requested 48
   FFC Download issues 2
   Penalties required 8
   Registrations 34
   Short paid 4
   AR invoice required 88
   Reconciliation required 1
   Consolidation required 19
   Other 15

   As it stands, by close of business on 16 January 2010, 33165 FFC’s have been issued and are available on the EAAB portal for agnts to download and print.

   No estate agent who is fully compliant and has paid all due monies will be denied an FFC.

   The EAAB reiterates its commitment to the industry to deal with all FFC related issues as a matter of urgency.

   Yours faithfully

   Ms Mamodupi Mohlala
   Chief Executive Officer
   Estate Agency Affairs Board