Slaying the FICA Misconceptions in the Real Estate Sector

Written by DocFox | Oct 6, 2022 4:45:13 PM

As per the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment Act 1 of 2017 (FICAA) Estate Agents are included in the classification of Schedule 1 Accountable Institutions and therefore are required to comply with ALL the regulations included in the Amendment Act.

Until recently there has been very little guidance and enforcement of the Act for the Property Sector and this has led to many misconceptions of what it means to be FICA compliant.

We have put together a guide which aims to clear up some of the below misconceptions:

Misconception 1: In order to be FICA Compliant estate agents only need to identify their clients and place of residence before entering into either a single transaction or a business relationship
Misconception 2: Real Estate Agents don’t need to “Fully” FICA their clients as the Bond originator, bank or conveyancer will
Misconception 3: I do credit checks on my clients which covers my FICA obligations
Misconception 4: I only need to FICA the person purchasing the property

If you thought any of the above misconceptions were true we encourage you to download our FICA Compliance guide for the Real Estate Sector. The guide aims to offer guidance on when FICA should take place during the selling process as well as indicates how tools like DocFox, TPN and Lighthouse fit in.

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