Has the Property Practitioners Bill missed the point?

Are consumers offered more protection?

Parliament passed the new Property Practitioners Bill on Tuesday 4^th December 2018. This bill has been on the cards before 2011!

The Bill was supposed to finally provide buyers (consumers) more protection in the secondary housing market.

However, it appears the Minister of Human Settlements and his staff and the National Assembly totally missed the point!

Here is that portion of the Bill:

CHAPTER 10

CONSUMER PROTECTION

Mandatory disclosure form

1. A property practitioner –
   1. may not accept a mandate unless the seller or lessor of the property has provided him or her with a fully completed and signed mandatory disclosure in the prescribed form; and
   2. must provide a copy of the completed mandatory disclosure form to a prospective purchaser or lessee who intends to make an offer for the purchase or lease of a property.
2. The completed mandatory disclosure form signed by all relevant parties must be attached to any agreement for the sale or lease of property and forms an integral part of that agreement, but if such a disclosure form was not completed, signed or attached, the agreement must be interpreted as if no defects or deficiencies of the property were disclosed to the purchaser.
3. A property practitioner who fails to comply with subsection (1) may be held liable by any affected consumer.
4. Nothing in this section prevents the Authority from taking action against a property practitioner or imposing an appropriate sanction.
5. Nothing in this section prevents a consumer, for his or her own account, from undertaking a private property inspection to confirm the state of the property before finalising the transaction.

This is the protection this Bill offers to buyers (consumers) who buy properties from sellers.

So what has changed? Continue reading “Consumers and the Property Practitioners Bill”