Web Bytes – 825

22 April 2021 00:00

This week: Paper vs. Proptech: The evolution of property inspections; Free webinar: FICA and KYC Compliance for property professionals; and the pet debate in Sectional Title schemes is far from over.

Paper vs. Protech: The evolution of property inspections
South Africa - PropertyWheel
Inspections are an emerging opportunity within the property industry encompassing a wide range of potential services from rental inspections, technical inspections, transactional inspections, compliance inspections and even health and safety inspections. Essentially, inspections are the capturing of information to compile a specific compliance report for distribution.

Pre-Covid-19, traditional paper-based inspections were often tedious and time consuming, requiring a physical site visit, taking endless notes, and collating multiple photos and videos. However, the global pandemic has forced the property industry, like every other industry, to look at ways to reduce human contact and in turn, this has brought about the need for digital solutions which heighten simplicity and efficiency.

David Hutchison Sales Director of internationally developed, award-winning inspections software Property Inspect says that businesses have had to adapt by becoming more streamlined, rethinking their functions and reorganizing staff responsibilities.
PropertyWheel

Free webinar: FICA and KYC Compliance for property professionals
South Africa - tech4law
The legislative obligations placed upon Accountable Institutions – including estate agents, legal practitioners and conveyancers – under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) can be complex to navigate. And, with the accepted forms of identification and verification continuously changing, it is even more important to keep on top of increasingly stringent anti-money laundering (AML) controls and reporting mechanisms to the Finance Intelligence Centre.

Accountable institutions must also satisfy a heightened need for reliable Know-Your-Customer (KYC) verification solutions during the process of gathering information about a customer prior to establishing a business relationship or concluding a transaction. This helps to verify the prospective client’s identity and ensures that they, too, comply with AML regulations.

Failure to comply and putting their businesses at risk of money laundering, tax evasion and other unlawful practices may lead to fines of up to R10 million in a personal capacity and up to R50 million as a company, or even imprisonment.
Tech4Law

CSOS ruling doesn’t end pet debate
South Africa - Property Professional
Animal lovers and social media commentators are atwitter over a ruling by the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) that the conduct rules in sectional title developments should treat cats and dogs equally.

While this decision by CSOS will be considered by other adjudicators, specialist sectional title attorney Marina Constas says that the pet debate is far from over. “While this award is certainly interesting and is currently the subject of some heated discussions in complexes and on social media, it is not legally binding and does not set a precedent like a High Court case. Cat lovers in complexes should hold off on adopting new pets for now based on this adjudication,” comments Constas, who is a director of BBM Law.

Outlining the case, she explains that the applicant owner approached CSOS because she had been prohibited from keeping a kitten. “The owner contended that her complex’s conduct rule permitting dogs in the complex but not cats was unconstitutional and discriminatory. The owner wanted this rule amended.
Property Professional