The issue of how far an estate agent or sectional managing agent could go in the collection of outstanding rentals and section title levies has been a vexed question.

Thuli Zungu in the Sowetan reports on the decision that was made by the Council for Debt Collectors on the issue:

“….Bernard Irvine won a case involving people who stay in sectional title apartments and who were subjected to exorbitant charges for letters and telephone calls reminding them (occupants) to pay their debt arrears.

In a landmark ruling on June 6 last month a committee of the Council for Debt Collectors decided that it was illegal and in contravention of the Debt Collectors Act of 1998 for even an estate agent or sectional managing agents to collect debts without being registered.

Consumers will no longer pay exorbitant amounts for letters and phone calls reminding them to settle their arrears.

Irvine lodged a complaint to the Council for Debt Collectors after he was charged R55 for each phone call Brunell Property Management, his sectional title management agent, had made to him reminding him of his arrears.”

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