How long will it take to have my property listed on your web site?

Usually no more than 24 hours from the time we receive your instruction.

How many photographs will you put on my Internet listing?

You can load up to 10 colour photographs per listing.

How long is my listing valid for?

Our intention is to give you sufficient time to sell your property. It may take a week (and lots of our properties do sell this quickly), a month or 6 months. Rest assured, we will not delist your property until it has sold or one year has passed – whichever happens first. We believe that this arrangement offers our clients exceptional value, but please do remember to phone us as soon as your property is sold, in order that we can update the web site and flag your property as SOLD, after which it ceases to display your contact information and automatically de-lists after 30 days.

What is a Servitude on a Title Deed?

If you go and check in the dictionary, you will find words like “slavery” or “bondage” and though in this case this is not exactly as the dictionary describes the word, it is close enough.

A Servitude is a right of use that is registered on a title deed. Land A allows Land B owner to use a piece of his land to drive on it, that for example can be a Servitude.

There are types of rights like “right of way”, when there is a Servitude on land A to let the neighbour on land B drive with his car on a strip of land A.

A Servitude is written in the title deed usually. Not always the case with Sectional Titles for example.

Therefore, if an investor wishes to buy a land or property the investor should check for Servitudes on the title deed just in case he may have plans that do not fit with the Servitude, such as building on a road where the neighbour has a Servitude to drive his car. 

Is Multi Projects® a registered Estate Agency?

Yes, we are registered by The Estate Agency Affairs Board and we operate strictly according to their Code of Conduct.

Beetle and Electrical – Who Pays?

An Offer to Purchase/Deed of Sale often includes a clause to the effect that the estate agent will be arranging the inspections on your behalf. As mentioned in previous articles, most agents have reputable inspection companies with whom they have good relations and deal with on a regular basis. The agent should not instruct a company to undertake your inspections until the purchaser's bond has been approved.

On the other hand, if you choose to arrange the inspections yourself, it might be worth your while to have this done prior to receiving an offer or even prior to putting your house on the market. This way you will know well in advance how much money you'll need to put aside for repairs, if any, in order to get your Compliance/Clearance Certificates. And it will be better to have any faults repaired before the prospective buyer views your property. If you're arranging your own inspections and have not yet done so by the time you receive an offer, do this as soon as possible.

What you have to pay for?

Inspection costs are usually for the seller's account. If the sale collapses for some reason, you are still liable for all inspection and repair costs incurred to obtain your Electrical Certificate of Compliance (CoC) and Beetle/Woodborer Certificate of Clearance.

This will also be the case if the estate agent arranged it on your behalf. If the sale is cancelled, you still have to pay the inspection fees. And if inspections do not pass, you still have to pay. An inspection should not be considered a free quote to check for compliance or not, it is a service in itself with any repairs required an additional expense. The cost of an inspection depends on the size of the installation/property to be inspected, and any repairs/treatments identified during the inspection will be quoted on separately.

If you decide to use a different company to do the repairs, you still have to pay the company who did the inspection in the first place. If the repair company cannot or will not issue the final CoC, Certificate of Clearance/Statement of Work done, you'll have to get the original inspection company to issue the certificates - and they will not do so without a re-inspection of the property, for which another fee is payable. The cost will depend on the time or work involved to re-inspect the installation/property and assuming responsibility for the CoC and Certificate of Clearance/Statement of Work done.

Should you not agree with the results of the inspection and want to obtain a second opinion, you remain liable for the inspection fee. And when you do get a second opinion, remember to compare apples with apples. Regulations are not always clear and frequently left open to interpretation resulting in differing opinions, results and quotes.

Another important fact to remember is that the purpose of an electrical inspection and CoC is to ensure that an existing installation is reasonably safe; the seller is under no obligation to upgrade the installation.

Usually only accessible timber or woodwork will be inspected for wood destroying organisms. For instance, the inspector will not lift fitted carpets to inspect the floorboards underneath unless you have specifically requested this and lifted any fitted carpets beforehand. The same applies to any other inaccessible or invisible timber or woodwork. Most Sale Agreements refer only to a couple of woodborer types, not all wood destroying organisms, so be sure to check the terms of your agreement.

Having to obtain the necessary certificates before a property can change hands is often seen as a moneymaking racket as there are, unfortunately, indeed some contractors who see it as an opportunity to inflate the list of repairs to be done before they will issue a CoC/Certificate of Clearance. To protect yourself from being exploited, always make sure that the company you're dealing with is at least registered with the Electrical Contracting Board, Electrical Contracting Association (SA), and the South African Pest Control Association (SAPCA), and that they specialise in issuing these certificates.