1. Taxation, Transformation, Terrorism, and Turmoil Summary of property related issues in 2005 2. Compliance Column cont. RICA - Regulation of Interception of Communication and Provision of Communication- Related Information Act 3. Ladies' Day Report back 4. New Chairman Profile on Peter Venter.



Taxation, Transformation, Terrorism, and Turmoil WHAT a year 2005 has been. Hardly a month has passed without something new for the estate agency to contend with. If it wasn't changes in taxation, or advances in transformation, it was combating terrorism, or turmoil at the industry regulator. Taxation The year opened with the introduction of the new system of stamp duty on property leases (before the necessary legislation had been finalised!). It was followed by legislation authorising a withholding tax on the proceeds of sales of properties owned by non-residents - however no date has yet been announced for implementation. Transfer duty was reduced in February. In May, SARS introduced a new system for dealing with transfer duties, which entails checking sellers' and buyers' taxes and sorting out problems before allowing property transfers to proceed. Since then, too, estate agents have been required to report directly to SARS whenever they sell properties which are registered in the names of companies, CCs or trusts, so that SARS can make sure that transfer duty is paid. Transformation In May, we convened a meeting of township estate agents, to find out how the Institute can support them. The outcome was a successful training programme - known as "iCourse" - in which twenty-six agents took part. That was in addition to our third mentorship programme: the transformation initiative which we launched in 2003. At the end of June, the final draft of the Property Transformation Charter was released. It is expected to come into operation in January 2006 though, at the time of writing, no formal announcement has been made. As SMMEs are exempted from compliance with many provisions of the Charter, and most of the estate agency industry consists of SMMEs, it remains to be seen how effective the Charter will be in our industry. Terrorism Also in May, the government placed new obligations on estate agents under the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act. Since then, if an estate agent discovers or suspects that a property transaction is or may be connected with terrorist activity, he/she must report it to the Financial Intelligence Centre. Turmoil Early in the year, we heard rumours of a forensic audit of our industry regulator, the Estate Agency Affairs Board. They were confirmed in September, with the announcement that the audit had indeed been carried out, had revealed high-level corruption, and had led to the resignation of nearly half the board and general "turmoil". Apparently, the audit report has been with the Department of Trade and Industry since July. In October, in what may be a related move, the DTI announced three in-depth investigations into the regulation of our industry: one into the effectiveness of the EAAB, one into regulation in other countries (to look for models to use as benchmarks), and one into current property-related legislation. We await the outcome of these investigations with great interest. Other Also during the year, there was the Cape Town City Council proposal to ban showhouse pointer boards throughout the unicity. At their request, we canvassed our members, and more than 2000 of them strongly opposed the idea. The Council has not yet announced any decision on the matter, so the status quo remains. What will 2006 bring? Time will tell, and IEA News will continue to inform estate agents about those matters which affect them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE COMPLIANCE COLUMN (6) Highlighting the many things that estate agencies need to do to keep on the right side of the law. Please note that these are only pointers: for detailed information, you should contact the relevant authorities. RICA (Regulation of Interception of Communication and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act) This Act, which was passed in 2002, was brought into operation only a few weeks ago. Here are some important points which affect your firm: • it is now illegal for a firm to monitor or intercept e-mails, faxes and phone calls which its agents and staff make or send through company computers, fax machines or phones, unless the agents and staff have agreed in writing to monitoring and interception • if your firm wants to be able to monitor or intercept e-mails, faxes and phone calls, then it should issue a written policy statement on the matter, and ask each agent and staff member to sign a copy to indicate that they accept it - it would also be a good idea to include this in your employment contract/letter of appointment for future agents and staff members • if your firm "provides", e.g. sells, lends, issues or gives, a cellphone or a SIM card to someone for any period of time, you must take a copy of that person's ID and keep it on file • if a cellphone or SIM card is lost or stolen, the loss or theft must be reported to the police a.s.a.p. - make sure you obtain a case number card from the police and keep it as proof that the matter was reported, because if the missing phone is later connected with a crime and it had not been reported as missing, the original owner can be considered to be a suspect in the crime ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LADIES' DAY We held our annual Ladies' Day a few weeks ago. The venue was Moyo (the African-theme restaurant at Spier), and the event was, ever well attended. Some 350 ladies got together for the day, to enjoy each other's company, some very good food, and to listen to guest speakers Bruce Walsh and Louise Parr. In keeping with the theme of the venue, the ladies were encouraged to dress, and decorate themselves, in African style. As usual, a prize was awarded to the best-dressed participant. We thank everyone who participated, and of course, our sponsors ABSA Bank, Buchanan Boyes Smith Tabata, and Sonnenberg McLoughlin Inc, without whom we could not have held such a successful function. PETER VENTER: OUR NEW CHAIRMAN Peter Venter CEA CRS(SA) MIEA has been elected chairman of the Western Cape branch of the IEA. He was previously vice-chairman and, before that, area convener for our Helderberg area, which flourished and grew under his leadership. Peter takes office at a challenging time, and we wish him a successful term.