The EAAB recently circulated their practice note ETD 001/2020 (1 July 2021) stating the requirements to be followed by real estate agents who hold Full Status Fidelity Fund Certificates (FFCs) but who have not yet complied with the requirements of the standard of training of estate agents set out in the regulations of 2008.

The full details of this notice may be found by following this link. There are some very important highlights to this notice to consider when assessing your EAAB qualifications, compliance, and the criteria for FFCs being issued in the future, which include:

1. New Interns

New interns starting in the market who have never received a FFC will not be affected.

2. Interns registered with the EAAB for more than 24 months

This note may appear not to include this group of real estate agents, however, the ETD 001/2020 notice relates to all estate agents who were registered after 1 January 2013 for the first time. The EAAB are closing the window for qualifications that have not been completed and all education requirements must be met by 30 June 2022.

If you need to update your qualifications to comply, here are some guidelines:

Obtaining your qualifications:

• Compulsory EAAB Intern Logbook must be completed and signed off by the mentor agent, principal agent, and the intern, then submitted in the required format to the EAAB. To find out more about the EAAB logbook, follow this link.
• The FETC – Real Estate level NQF4 must be completed, submitted, and assessed by the Services SETA. This qualification can only be obtained by enrolling with an accredited training service provider.
• The EAAB Logbook and Services SETA NQF4 qualification can be completed at the same time, ask your training service provider for more details.
• If a person has obtained a degree or diploma that makes them eligible for an exemption of the NQF4 qualification, this must be submitted to the EAAB for approval. A training service provider can assist in assessing whether a full exemption may be granted and provide the details of the portfolio of evidence and different matrices that must be achieved to obtain a full exemption, you can read more about this by following this link to the EAAB website.

Property Professionals – Achieving the Professional Designation Examination level 4 (PDE4):

• According to the EAAB notice, those you achieved their Services SETA FETC – Real Estate NQF level 4 qualification more than two years prior to this notice, must complete their PDE by the due date, i.e. 30 June 2022.
• Full Status agents must have completed their NQF4 qualification and written the PDE4 by 30 June 2022. These qualifications may be achieved by following the intern program or recognition of prior learning programs offered by training service providers.
• Estate Agents who are eligible for exemption of the NQF4 qualification must obtain their exemption for the qualification and are still required to write the PDE4 to obtain their EAAB designation, Professional Practitioner – Real Estate (PPRE).

Principal Agents – Achieving the Professional Designation Examination level 5 (PDE5):

• All current Principal Agents registered with the EAAB must have completed their National Certificate (NC) – Real Estate level 5 (NQF5) qualification and obtained the EAAB PDE5 by 30 June 2022 to obtain their EAAB designation, Master Practitioner – Real Estate (MPRE).

Consequences of non-compliance

The EAAB have given estate agents many years of latitude to complete their qualifications, in fact since 2013 for many. From 30th June 2022, the consequences of non-compliance will be applied as follows:

• Incomplete qualifications will lead to disqualification by the EAAB
• Disqualified people will be blocked from the MyEAAB website and will not be able to renew their FFC in the future.
• Disqualification will mean that the agent will be deregistered. To reregister, the person will be registered as an intern agent and will have to comply with all the requirements expected of an intern estate agent.
• An administrative penalty of R1 000 will be imposed on disqualified people that will need to be paid before any further FFCs will be issued.
• Disqualified people will be required to follow an intensive administrative application process to request an extension from the EAAB.
• Where an extension is granted by the EAAB, this will only be given for a further period of 6 months calculated from the date of unblocking the disqualified person.

This practice notice from the EAAB is not a warning, this was given back in 2018, and therefore if you have been registered with the EAAB as an intern agent for over 24 months and not achieved your qualifications, it’s time to focus on completing your qualifications.

If you are a Full Status agent, and have not obtained your qualifications, don’t put your career at risk! Obtain your qualifications by enrolling with an effective training service provider to help you through this process as soon as possible.

A fast and cheap option may seem attractive, but you may not receive the process, encouragement, and support you need to complete your qualifications. Do some research and speak to your colleagues who have already qualified before enrolling with a training service provider or ask your Sales Manager for recommendations.