The Consumer Protection Act implemented as of 1 April in a minefield of change for property practitioners to understand and implement in their business. The bottom line is it does require agents to take better care of disclosure of all facts , including the condition of the property being sold.
The EAAB and the DTI have recently sent out a checklist that requires the seller to make uneducated ( in most cases ) guesses pertaining to the major components of the property , ant to comment on possible problem areas in a multiple choice format offering Yes , No or Unsure as answers to questions that really require a professional to assess prior to making any call.
The professional agent should really be requesting a full Home Inspection from HomeSafe Home Inspections www.homsafeinspection.co.za to be sure that the property condition is adequately investigated by a trained inspector.
Lets provide an example where a seller puts Unsure as an answer to most areas ( where does this leave the agent ) and quite frankly if I were a seller with no building backround I certainly would be ticking the Unsure section myself to avoid liability.
The fact of the matter is that in every country with consumer protection laws , agents get inspections , either pre sale ( the better option) or during the offer stage ( more of a pressure inspection) This insures that the disclosure process is dealt with professionally and leaves little chance for the deal to be scuppered by mismatches in interpreting the condition. A professional inspector would have been through the report with the buyer in detail and many of the possible areas of concern raised during the deal process upfront.
If this makes good sense , call HomeSafe on 0836560915 or visit us at www.homesafeinspection.co.za to discuss the benefit of our inspection process in your business.