East African Business Week (Kampala)
Aggrey Nshekanabo
29 November 2008
In Uganda, the phenomenon of property management and brokerage has hit higher notes. The days when doctors, lawyers and traditional businessmen had to take time off their patients, clients and customers to run around collecting rent from their tenants may be a thing of the past.
A new class of managers has emerged; and they call themselves property managers and estate developers. The tradition has been owners manage their own property and they do not need a business licence to rent out their own homes or buildings. They have only been paying ground rent in the commercial district centres.
Bu what is property management? You may ask. According to Sabiiti Bageine of Bageine & Co; property management is about managing capitalised assets that are not real estate in nature. This can include furnished property. But then many so called 'property managers' are also into real estate and property development.
As the industry of property management and estate development grows and attracts serious offshore investment, there is need to license real estate brokers, managers and developers, if they are collecting rent, listing properties for rent or helping negotiate leases and estate development. A property manager may be a licensed real estate salesperson but generally they must be working under a licensed real estate brokerage law.
Much as estate development and property management is now one of the key industries rising in Uganda, there is little or no regulation. All they require is a trading licence and maybe a certificate of incorporation as a company doing estate management or brokerage.
There is no legal obligation to form a property management company. However, management companies are generally formed to manage multi-unit developments, and must then follow the general rules of company law in terms of ownership and administration. That is all that there is.
No specific qualifications or licences are required to operate as a managing agent. As the industry grows and attracts offshore companies there is a likely need to have a National Property Services Regulatory Agency established on a statutory basis. This will help regulate and hold a real estate salesperson or real estate broker accountable. Certainly many people have not forgotten the Kasulu saga; who called himself a property agent and fleeced many people of their hard earned cash in the name of property brokerage. Therefore, having a regulatory agency would license and regulate managing agent services, with legislative power to investigate individual complaints against managing agents.
Also this agency would ensure that property managers have a real estate licence on top of business license to even rent out their own homes. That will widen Uganda's tax base through issuance of licences to property developers, estate managers, brokers and managers. To be able to trade as a property management company the company has to be licenced with a principal or licensee charge. And each staff member of the company, has to have a certificate of registration. But this thing of property managers being ISO certified to maintain other companies' properties may not be that exciting and a serious property investor may have to think twice to bring in his money here and he dumps it in the hands of quacks.
Otherwise, Makerere University students in the ICT department have already developed software that would help property owners to keep track of property transactions such as mortgages and maintaining an automatic property inspection schedule to help managers plan their day, week or month.
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