A property development company, Capevalley Properties, has been ordered to pay a US$200 fine for illegally operating an estate agent.
The company, represented by lawyer Tafadzwa Ngoro, was facing charges of contravening the Estates Agents Act when it appeared before Harare magistrate Ruth Moyo last Monday.
The complainant in the matter was Stanford Madzora who is employed by the Estate Agents Council as a compliance officer.
Prosecutors said at some point Isaac Chiduku and Amos Chiduku who are joint title owners of a property called Lot 34 Swallowfield, Johannesburg in Norton which they inherited from their late father's estate subdivided the farm into agro-plots and residential stands and shared the stands among the five siblings.
Isaac and Amos contracted a company called Drowack Private Limited to finance and develop the property into fully serviced stands.
In 2020, the director of Drowack, Gideon Muzvongi introduced Primrose Chakuchichi to Isaac and Amos and advised them that her company Capevalley Properties (Pvt) Limited was going to manage the development of Swallowfield Farm.
In May 2021, Capevalley Properties (Pvt) Limited offered the service of marketing and selling of Swallowfield Farm on behalf of the Chiduku siblings.
Isaac and the other four siblings were made to believe that Capevalley Properties (Private) Limited was a registered real estate agent, which made them agree that it would sell the residential stands on their behalf.
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The company started selling the stands at Swallowfield Farm to clients while collecting fees for building plans from clients, conveyancing fees, and commission/agents fees from landowners and administration fees.
The business relationship between the Chiduku family and Capevalley became sour in September 2022 and this resulted in the engagement of the Estate Council of Zimbabwe to check the registration status of Capevalley Properties (Pvt) Limited.
The Estate Council of Zimbabwe discovered that Capevalley Properties (Private) Limited is not registered in terms of the Act and this prompted them to file a police report.
Investigations were carried out and it was established that Capevalley was not registered with the Estate Agents Council at the time it was engaged by the Chiduku family to sell their stands.
Capevalley was not allowed to operate as a real estate entity selling or managing any immovable property on behalf of third parties without any express authority from the Estate Agents Council.
