The 1st of February 2022 saw the commencement of the Property Practitioners Act (PPA) and subsequent Property Practitioners Regulations, bringing along significant changes to guidelines for registration, training and B-BBEE compliance in the real estate sector in South Africa.

The most confused topic of the new PPA and Regulations seems to be training requirements for new Candidate Property Practitioners – what are they and when do they take effect?

Three of the most common misconceptions with respect to the training of Candidate Property Practitioners are:

• The NQF4 Real Estate Course becomes obsolete;
• Logbook “falls away”; and
• The above applies to all new agents registering their first FFC from 1 Feb 2022.

 Are any of these statements true? NO… (Well, not entirely)

NQF4 Real Estate training course

Let’s start with the NQF4 Real Estate course. The existing NQF4 FETC: Real Estate course (SAQA Code 59097) has been delivered with the same course content from 2008, which extends well beyond the typical SAQA 6-year review cycle for revised course content. Plans to update this course never took effect (for one reason or another) and continually resulted in re-registration of the original course.

Course facilitators and training providers have had to adapt over the years and adjust their content delivery, change the electives or update assessment guides. Due to the inevitable variability of the way this course can be delivered, the industry has long called for a review of the content. We asked, and the PPRA delivered.

NQF4 Occupational Certificate: Real Estate Agent

Welcome to the revised course – the NQF4 Occupational Certificate: Real Estate Agent (SAQA Code 118714). This course is set to replace SAQA Code 59097 sometime in 2023. There are both similarities and key differences with the revised course content. A high-level summary between the two is shown below:

Similarities between the outgoing and incoming qualification include:

• Same qualification level – NQF4;
• Same number of minimum credits (150) and therefore notional hours nominated to complete the course (1,500 hours);
• Similar prerequisites (although, potentially less stringent for the new qualification as it does not call for specific subjects such as Communication and Maths Literacy); and
• Most likely the same delegated Quality Assurer – Services SETA.

However, some of the key differences with the new qualification will include:

• Change in qualification type – from a Further Training and Education Certificate to an Occupational Certificate;
• Addition of a new Assessment Quality Partner – the PPRA; and
• Change in mode of delivery – the previous course was classroom-based only and consisted of three separate knowledge modules, whereas the new course will be delivered in the classroom (knowledge module), through practical skills training under an industry mentor and via the candidate’s personal work experience (evidence-based).

EAAB Logbook

Now let’s look at the EAAB Logbook – a mandatory mentorship programme and workplace portfolio of evidence. A compilation of workplace evidence from the candidate, under the supervision of a Principal Property Practitioner, summarizing tasks completed and reflecting on skills learnt during the internship period. Sounds very similar to the practical skills training and work experience modules defined in the new NQF4 Real Estate course above?

Therefore, although the Property Practitioners Regulations make no mention of a logbook requirement for Candidate Property Practitioners, it is clear that Logbook-like modules have now been incorporated into the new NQF4 Real Estate qualification.

Property Practitioners who previously undertook the NQF4 59097 course, as well as completed a Logbook for submission to the EAAB, would agree that this is a welcome change. One of the biggest irritations with the previous training guidelines was the amount of overlap and re-work required between NQF4 and Logbook. It appears that the PPRA have heard these frustrations and finally planned to develop a more streamlined, diverse and occupational-specific course for the new intake of Property Practitioners.

But lastly, when do all these changes take place? Training provider registrations for the new NQF4 course (SAQA Code 118714) course are planned to take place from 30 June 2023. In addition, training provider registrations for the old NQF4 course (SAQA Code 59097) will cease from this date. The last date for learners to be able to enrol in the 59097 course will be 30 June 2024.

Therefore, this highlights an “interim period” of 12 months where learners can choose whether to enrol in the old or new course.

This is re-iterated by the Property Practitioners Act - Section 75 of the PPA governs a transitionary period. Section 75(6) specifically provides that all Regulations made in terms of the old EAA Act remain of full force and effect, until such time that the PPRA has engaged the various industry bodies and established a standard of qualifications, developed new course materials, established the new framework for PDE and established standards of training for property practitioners, the old Standard of Estate Agents Regulations, 2008, will still apply.

In other words, status quo until further notice!

Phoenix Group - Real Estate Training Courses Johannesburg

Phoenix Group offers all the current required training courses to become a fully qualified Property Practitioner – including Logbook, NQF4 and PDE4 Exam Prep.

Please revert to our website to register for our upcoming courses.