Code Of Conduct

1

'client' means a person who has given a QTR agent a mandate, and where a QTR agent has received conflicting mandates in respect of a particular immovable property or any interest in immovable property or any business undertaking, the person whose mandate has first been accepted by the QTR agent, is regarded as the client;

2

'mandate' means an instruction or an authority given to, and accepted by, a QTR agent to render a QTR agency service;

3

'sole mandate' means a mandate incorporating an undertaking on the part of the person giving the mandate, not to confer a similar mandate or another agent before the expiry of a determined or determinable period;

4

'the Act' means the Estate Agents Act, 1976(Act 112 of 1976).

2

In terms of QTR agents' general duty to members of the public and other persons or bodies, a QTR agent-

(a)

shall not in or pursuant to the conduct of his or her business do or omit to do any act which is or may be contrary to the integrity of estate agents in general;

(b)

shall protect the interests of his or her client at all times to the best of his or her ability, with due regard to the interest of all other parties concerned;

(c)

shall comply with both the Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder;

(d)

shall not in his capacity as QTR agent wilfully or negligently fail to perform any work or duties with such degree of care and skill as might reasonably be expected of a QTR agent;

(e)

shall not through the medium of a company, close corporation or third party, or by using such company, close corporation or third party as a front or nominee, do anything which would not be permissible for him or her to do if he or she were operating as an estate agent on his or her own account;

(f)

shall not deny equal services to any person for reason of race, creed, sex, or country of national origin;

(g)

shall not discriminate against a prospective purchaser of immovable property or an interest therein or a business undertaking on the grounds that such purchaser will not, or is unlikely to, make use of financial assistance made available by any specific person or financial institution and which the QTR agent offers to arrange on his or her behalf.

3

No QTR agent shall-

(a)

offer, purport or attempt to offer any immovable property for sale or let or negotiate in connection therewith or canvas or undertake or offer to canvass a purchaser or lessee thereof, unless he or she has been given a mandate to do so by the seller or lessor of the property or the duly authorized agent of such seller or lessor;

(b)

on behalf of a prospective purchaser or lessee, offer, purport or attempt to offer or lease any immovable property or an interest therein or a business undertaking or negotiate in connection therewith or canvass, or undertake or offer to canvass a seller or lessor therefor, unless he or she has been given a mandate to do so by such prospective purchaser or lessee or the duly authorized agent of such purchaser or lessee;

(c)

accept a sole mandate, or the extension of the period of an existing sole mandate, unless-

(i)

all the terms of such mandate or such extension, as the case may be, are in writing and signed by the client; and

(ii)

the expiry date of such mandate of extension, which shall be expressed as a calendar date, is specifically stipulated in the mandate or extension, as the case may be;

(d)

accept a sole mandate which contains a provision conferring upon him or her-

(i)

an option to extend the sole mandate for a certain period after expiry of the sole mandate; or

(ii)

a mandate to continue to render the same QTR agency service referred to in the sole mandate, after expiry of the sole mandate, unless-

(aa)

the client has prior to his or her signature of the sole mandate expressly consented in a written document, executed independently of the sole mandate, to the inclusion of such provision; and

(bb)

such document contains an explanation of the reasons for and implications of the inclusion of such provisions; and

(cc)

such document is signed by both the client and the QTR agent in question;

(e)

accept a sole mandate which also confers upon him or her a power of attorney to act on behalf of the person conferring the mandate, unless the intention and effect of such power of attorney is fully explained in the document embodying the sole mandate;

(f)

include, or cause to be included, or accept the benefit of, any clause in a contract of sale or lease of immovable property negotiated by him or her, whereby a sole mandate is directly or indirectly conferred upon him or her to sell or let the said immovable property at any time after the conclusion of the said contract;

(g)

accept any mandate or instructions for work in respect of immovable property if his or her interest therein would compete with his or her obligations towards an existing client in respect of the same immovable property without first disclosing such interest in writing to such client;

(h)

knowingly or negligently make a material misrepresentation concerning the likely market value or rental income of immovable property to a seller or lessor thereof, in order to obtain a mandate in respect of such property;

(i)

accept a mandate in respect of any immovable property if the performance of the mandate requires specialized skill or knowledge falling outside his or her field of competence, unless he or she will in the performance of the mandate be assisted by a person who has the required skill or knowledge and this fact is disclosed in writing to the client;

(j)

accept a sole mandate to sell or let immovable property, unless he or she has explained in writing to the client-

(i)

the legal implications should the client during the currency of the sole mandate or thereafter sell or let the property without the assistance of the QTR agent, or through the intervention of another estate agent; and

(ii)

what specific obligations in respect of the marketing of the property will be assumed by the QTR agent in his or her endeavor to perform the mandate, and such explanations, if contained in a printed or typed sole mandate document shall be in lettering not smaller than that generally used in the remainder of the document.

4

(1)

A QTR agent shall-

(a)

convey to a purchaser or lessee or a prospective purchaser or lessee of immovable property in respect of which a mandate has been given to him or her to sell, let, buy or hire, all facts concerning such property as are, or should reasonably in the circumstances be, within his or her personal knowledge and which are or could be material to a prospective purchaser or lessee thereof;

(b)

not perform or attempt to perform any mandate in respect of a particular property, if the current prior mandate, which conflicts with the aforesaid mandate, has been accepted by him or her, unless he or she has disclosed to the person who has given the later mandate the existence of such prior mandate, and the fact that he or she will not be the QTR agents client in respect of that property;

(2)

No QTR agent shall-

(a)

purchase directly or indirectly for himself or herself, or acquire any interest in, or conclude a lease in respect of, any immovable property in respect of which he or she has a mandate, without the full knowledge and consent of the person who conferred the mandate; or

(b)

sell or let to any prospective purchaser or lessee who has retained his or services any immovable property owned by him or her in which he or she has direct or indirect interest, without disclosing to that purchaser or lessee his or her interest in such immovable property.

5

No QTR agent shall-

(a)

in connection with any mandate given to him or her , publish or cause to be published any advertisement which could create the impression that it was published by the owner, seller or lessor of immovable property, or by a prospective purchaser or lessee of immovable property;

(b)

in connection with his or her activities as a QTR agent-

(i)

prepare or make, or assist any other person to prepare or make, either orally or i writing, any statement which he or she knows or ought to know is false; or

(ii)

record in any book or account or other record any information which he or she knows or ought to know is false, or keep any book, account or record containing any such information;

(c)

claim to be an expert or to have specialized knowledge in respect of any QTR agency service if, in fact, he or she is not such an expert or does not have such specialized knowledge;

(d)

advertise or otherwise market immovable property in respect of which he or she has been given a mandate to sell or let, at a price or rental other than that agreed upon with the seller or lessor of the property;

(e)

without derogating from the generality of the foregoing-

(i)

willfully or negligently misled or misrepresented in regard to any matter pertaining to the immovable property in respect of which he or she has a mandate;

(ii)

use any harmful or misleading marketing techniques or method to influence any person to confer upon him or her a mandate to render any QTR agency service or to sell, purchase, let or hire immovable property, having regard to the general experience which such person has concerning property transactions and the circumstances surrounding the transaction or proposed transaction;

(f)

inform a seller pr purchaser, or prospective seller or purchaser of immovable property in respect of which he or she has been given a mandate to sell or purchase, that he or she has obtained an offer in respect of the property from a purchaser or the seller, as the case may be, unless such offer-

(i)

is in writing;

(ii)

has been signed by the offeror; and

(iii)

is to the knowledge of the QTR agent concerned, a bona fide offer;

(g)

affix any board or notice to immovable property indicating that such property is for sale or hire or has been sold or let, unless-

(i)

the seller or lessor, as the case may be, has given his or her written consent to do so; and

(ii)

he or she in fact been given a mandate to sell or let the property, or has in fact sold or let the property, as the case may be.

6

(1)

No QTR agent-

(a)

who had a mandate to sell or purchase immovable property shall willfully fail to present or cause to be presented to the seller or purchaser concerned, any offer to purchase or sell such property, received prior to the conclusion of a contract of sale in respect of such property unless the seller r purchaser, as the case may be, has instructed him or her expressly not to present such offer;

(b)

who has a mandate to sell immovable property, may present competing offers to purchase the property, in such a manner to induce the seller to accept any particular offer without regard to the advantages or disadvantages of each offer for the seller;

(c)

shall amend any provision of a signed offer, prior to rejection thereof, or written mandate or any contract of sale or lease, without the knowledge and express consent of the offeror or the parties to the contract, as the case may be.

(2)

A QTR agent shall-

(a)

explain to every prospective party to any written offer or contract negotiated or produced by him or her in his or her capacity as a QTR agent, prior to signature thereof, by such party, the meaning and consequences of the material provisions of such offer or contract or, if he or she is unable to do so refer such party to a person who can do so;

(b)

if he, or she knows that an offer submitted by him or her as a QTR agent to any party has been accepted, or has not been accepted by the expiry date thereof, forthwith notify the offeror of such fact;

(c)

without undue delay furnish every contracting party with a copy of an agreement of sale, lease, option or mandate with which he or she is concerned as a QTR agent, and also of an offer to purchase or lease if the offeror specifically requests a copy thereof.

7

No QTR agent shall without good and sufficient cause, either directly or indirectly, in any matter whatsoever, solicit, encourage, persuade or influence any party or potential party to a pending or completed transaction to utilize or refrain from utilizing-

(a)

the services of any particular legal practitioner, conveyancer or firm of legal practitioners;

(b)

the services or financial assistance offered by any financial institution to members of the public in general; or

(c)

the financial assistance offered to such party by any person.

8

No QTR agent shall, without just cause, divulge to any third party any confidential information obtained by him or her concerning the business affairs, trade secrets or technical methods or processes of a client or any party to a transaction in respect of which he or she acted as a QTR estate agent.