Chronicle Editor
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
A FEW months ago, I was scouting for space in Bulawayo’s Central Business District and responded to a social media advert for a property available to rent in a busy area.
After several days and attempts of trying to meet the owner of the space, a middle-aged man who had placed the advert finally showed up and said he was going to take me to the premises as the owner was his “old man”.
Upon arrival, he sat at a table away from me and allowed me to discuss business with the old man. After a 45-minute meeting, I left the premises; the young man walked me out and asked for payment.
“I charge for facilitating these meetings, I am an agent,” he said.
Out of curiosity, I asked how much the “facilitation fee” was on that day, and he said since I was inquiring about a commercial property, it was going to be USD$380, broken down as USD$30 agent fee and the rest for facilitating the meeting.
I couldn’t believe my ears!
I asked myself if simply showing me a building and the owner was going to cost me USD$380, then how many clients was he seeing in a day who were falling into this trap?
Our conversation came to an abrupt end as I could not find the rationale for paying for a service that the “old man” could have done alone without charging a dime.
Potential tenants would have saved up for rentals and not unrealistic and unnecessary facilitation fees. The next week was a back and forth of the man asking for his agent fees that I still have not paid to this day, and have no intentions of paying.
This is the day-to-day life of property/accommodation agents who advertise houses, shops, and warehouses to let as well as land and houses for sale. The Bulawayo property market has been infiltrated by hundreds of these so-called agents who demand an agent fee for simply giving desperate home seekers pointers as to where they can get a house for rental or workspace.
While their existence may not be an issue, their modus operandi is questionable.
An agent typically advertises accommodation for rental on WhatsApp groups and those who want to view the houses are notified of an agent fee of anything between US$20 and US$50, which does not guarantee that one will get the place.
These agents do not show one person the property. The properties are shown to loads of desperate home seekers in a week and when they have collected enough revenue from one property, it is let go to the lucky tenant. This vicious cycle goes on for days — daylight robbery at its best!
Desperate home seekers have fallen prey to the agents and in most instances, people do not get the accommodation. Chairman of the Estate Agents Council Mr Nico Kuipa said they are aware of the existence of bogus estate agents and are weeding them out.
“Recently, we carried out a blitz with the police on illegal and unregistered estate agents in Harare which netted several unlicensed agents, who will now face legal action. These blitzes will become continual exercises to instil discipline in the sector. Our vision in instilling discipline in the sector is to deal with phony estate agents by putting in place effective monitoring regulations and procedures. In light of this, we constantly check all media, including internet platforms, to spot and deal with illegal and unregistered estate agents. Further, we are educating the general public on how to identify bona fide Estate Agents,” said Mr Kuipa.
He said a list of 74 unregistered firms and individuals illegally practicing as estate agents was recently published with some having engaged the Council to regularise their operations following the blitz.
The estate agency industry faces challenges from players who offer real estate services to the public without being registered.
“These actors are illegal and unregistered agents who take on many different guises, including but not limited to the so-called housing agents who are known for extorting the public for information on houses that are available to profit from the housing scarcity in the country. Bogus agents are those who operate illegally as estate agents in the business of property sales and management without meeting registration requirements.
“Like other regulated professions such as accounting, law, media, and medicine, estate agency calls for specialised knowledge and experience to be managed. The law allows people to sell or rent out their properties on their own but handling such functions on behalf of third parties requires estate agents, trained and registered for that. Estate agents are skilled and trained in how to connect parties and broker deals between them with an emphasis on making sure that all parties’ interests are fairly served,” he added.
The Council encourages the public to deal with registered estate agents for their safety and protection, adding that their mandate as a regulatory body established by an Act of Parliament is to safeguard the general public.
“The public should shun illegal and unregistered estate agents to avoid being defrauded of their hard-earned cash when buying or renting immovable properties. We encourage members of the public to use registered estate agency firms. Registered estate agents are required by law to have Compensation Fund Certificates granted and renewed yearly by the Council. The Compensation Fund serves as insurance, allowing members of the public to seek compensation from the Council in the event that they incur losses when doing business with registered agents. Registered estate agents are also required to open trust accounts for banking clients’ funds. Funds held in this account can only be withdrawn at the instigation of the seller or buyer as the case may be following required due process,” said Mr Kuipa.
A Bulawayo resident said some people who stopped working for estate agents had opened up unregistered businesses.
“Since there is no payment, agents have been sourcing business directly from clients and cut out the registered estate agencies that are fleecing them of half of their commissions. They secure properties, operate as individuals and make a living out of it. However, there are bogus people who have infiltrated the market and are swindling clients. People pay money for them to secure accommodation for them and in many cases, they run away after getting payments from several people.”–@NyembeziMu
Online Reporter