Hirsch's Centurion hosted their first Estate Agents Morning for the year at the store last Wednesday with Attorney, Anita Fivaz and Town Planning Professional Abrie Snyman as guest speakers for the morning. Property Agents from throughout Centurion attended this very informative with Anita discussing the sale and conditions of buying and selling of properties and explaining the importance of not only checking defects, but also the checking and obtaining of the approved building plans for the property before doing the final contract with the client. Anita mentioned the facts relevant to the recently approved Consumer Act, how it affects the property market and briefly discussed the various addendums generally used in the sellers contracts. Agents should advise the buyer and discuss the benefits of appointing a qualified building inspector to check the valid plans, check for defects as well as the building and property as a whole before buying a property.
Abrie Snyman, Managing Director of Multiprof Development briefly discussed the fact that buyers and sellers generally trust the Estate Agents to be knowledgeable about property matters and often the buyer expects the agent, as the property professional, to inform them of town planning and building plan related issues . He made it very clear that agents should be very careful to not place misleading advertising of property details in their advertisements, that being on the net or in newspapers. He mentioned that most structures including granny flats, pools, lapas and carports. should have approved building plans. Buyers should insist on an occupational certificate when purchasing a property. He said that it is their experience that banks are increasingly reluctant to approve bonds on sectional title units if the sectional title plan does not include all the structures deemed to for part of the purchase. A visual inspection of a property is not good enough to determine the value of a property. Structures build in servitude areas may have to be demolished at the costs of the owner. As soon as a property is transferred in the buyers name, the new owner is responsible any illegal structures on the property . Abrie stressed the importance of an Occupation Certificate to safeguard the buyer against the above. He explained that obtaining available documentation including building plans, sectional title plans, zoning certificates and Land –Surveyor diagrams can prevents potential problems with property transactions. He advised the agents to ensure that they have a good understanding of the various documents to ensure a professional service to buyers and sellers
All the agents agreed this was a very informative morning and thanked Anita and Abrie for the good advice. For more information Anita and Abrie can be contacted on : info@mpdp.co.za / anita@fivaz.co.za