RESTRAINING ORDER
Up until now, there has been a restraint on publishing anything about the case of SIGNATURE REAL ESTATE vs ATLANTIC SEABOARD REALTY, because a court order prohibited me, Godelieve Koelma, from doing so. From 24 May 2019 both myself and Romy Tarboton have been prohibited for a period of 5 years, of posting anything about each other or our companies, but Romy Tarboton has flagrantly ignored the law throughout this matter and approached numerous journalists and attorneys to publish articles on the case. She was the one who first applied for a Protection from Harassment order, I reciprocated and when the Magistrate suggested he grant both orders to prevent a lengthy case where we would have to present our evidence, I was in support of this and she agreed.
“Not to post anything relating to the applicant or her enterprise on social media, either indirectly or directly” which includes enlisting the help of another person.
COMPANY CONVERSION 9 JANUARY 2017
Let’s start with how her company HIDOCOL CC converted to a PTY LTD on 9 January 2017, and where she failed in her administrative duties as a Principal to update the authority in the correct manner, which is log on to her portal and reserve the agency name.
She did this after our dispute came about on 2 May 2018 – 16 months later!
24 APRIL 2018 – THE DATE THE DISPUTE STARTED
At the time of the conversion in 2017, Romy Tarboton appointed a non-Principal agent as director of the firm.
Which is where the non-compliance had been identified and communicated to her.
Once this error was identified, she proceeded to have her then co-director, Amanda Fenner-Solomon sign a back-dated resignation letter on 24 April 2018.
The date of the resignation letter was recorded as 5 January 2018.
This would then ensure the firm was compliant for the first time since it’s registration.
Therefore once the resignation was implemented on 8 May 2018, the FFC for the Firm was issued on 8 May 2018 for the first time.
BACKDATING RESIGNATION LETTER OF NON-PRINCIPAL DIRECTOR OF THE NEW COMPANY
AUDITOR CONFIRMATION WHEN RESIGNATION LETTER WAS RECEIVED
Signature Real Estates’s auditor at the time, TRUE NORTH, confirmed that they had received the resignation letter on 24 April 2018, which they sent to CIPC on 8 May 2018.
This amounts to fraud, because the launching of a high court notice of motion based on the validity of your compliance being in place, when in fact it was not, means that many people are being misled, including the general public.
ROMY TARBOTON LAUNCHES ATTACK BY LODGING TWO COMPLAINTS ON THE EAAB PORTAL
Romy Tarboton lodged a complaint at the EAAB on 21 May 2018 alleging Charles’ fronting as Principal of Atlantic Seaboard Realty, that he hasn’t responded to her demands and to have me investigated as to whether I should have my FFC revoked and Charles to be requested to resign as Principal of our firm.
The EAAB has never entertained inter-agency disputes (see complaint from Shaun Kramer against me in 2016) and this time they also responded that it was not something they would pursue, read her complaint and their response on 28 May 2018.
NOTICE OF MOTION SERVED ON EAAB – THEY COMPLY WITH CHARGES TO BE LAID AGAINST ASREALTY
However, Signature Real Estate’s second complaint launched a Committee of Inquiry against both myself and Charles Edwards.
The NOTICE OF MOTION citing the EAAB as a fourth respondent was on 14 June 2018, the second complaint on the portal was made on the 21 June 2018.
This time the EAAB complied with her demands due to being made a respondent in a High Court notice of motion.
EAAB SUBSEQUENLTY REMOVED AS RESPONDENT IN HIGH COURT MATTER
Note the EAAB’s subsequent removal as a Respondent on 24 August as they had brought forward charges against us accordingly on 28 June 2018.
Charles Edwards was also accused of not responding to correspondence received from Signature Real Estate’s lawyer Frank Biccari, this was also a lie as we had sent this letter below on 17 May 2018.
I AM UPGRADED TO PRINCIPAL AFTER COMPLETING EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS
On 31 May 2018, I had been upgraded to Principal status and this was confirmed by the EAAB’s Upgrades department.
I had submitted my documentation and made the payment for this upgrade and was awaiting their issuance of my FFC as Principal agent which took them more than 2 months to produce – on the 7 August 2018.
At this stage I was finally seeing rewards for my hard work: log book completion, NQF4 submission as well as having just passed my PDE4 and attending the NQF5 course.
It should have been a time of celebration to finally reach this milestone to be the Principal of my own company.
FULLY COMPLIANT AND HAVING PAID FOR THE UPGRADE I UPDATED MY WEBSITE WHILST AWAITING ON THE EAAB TO ISSUE MY FFC
I had submitted my registration and payment for my Principal FFC to be issued and received confirmation that my upgrade to Principal had been approved.
Yet, we were both found guilty of misconduct for updating our company website of my status as Principal Agent, due to the fact that the FFC had not been issued at that time and fined R10,000 each.
PUBLISHING THEIR VICTORY ON SOCIAL MEDIA WHEN THE BOARD FOUND US GUILTY OF MISCONDUCT FOR THE UPDATE OF MY PRINCIPAL STATUS ON OUR WEBSITE, EVEN THOUGH AT THIS STAGE MY FFC HAD BEEN ISSUED AND I WAS A PRINCIPAL AGENT.
After the Inquiry hearing, which Romy Tarboton and Karen Williamson both were invited to attend, they posted on social media about being winners.
Karen Williamson also requested to post this on the Facebook Group that I am an admin of viz. ASCF – Atlantic Seaboard Community Forum.
KAREN WILLIAMSON AND ROMY TARBOTON CELEBRATING HURTING INNOCENT PEOPLE
Karen Williamson and Romy Tarboton celebrating false charges of misconduct they orchestrated
DEFAMATION OF MY CHARACTER FOR THIS CHARGE OF MISCONDUCT SPREAD AROUND LIKE WILDFIRE
This guilty charge of misconduct, without the full details, has been spread around to various parties, for the purpose of discrediting me.
Including when we had a matter brought to the Rental Housing Tribunal of a landlord Ian Davenall failing to reimburse a rather large deposit.
The attorney Verushka Beirowski who represented the landlord on behalf of Johnny Henkes, presented this letter to the tribunal to demonstrate a lack of credibility against me.
Needless to say the landlord got off lightly as the Tribunal awarded him various counter claims he made and to this day hasn’t reimbursed the amount he owes his tenant, my partner Jeremy Thomson. UPDATE: Davenall has paid payments since this article has been published, but not the full amount and has a criminal charge pending for contravention of a court order.
The reason behind Davenall’s dispute with us was largely due to being influenced by another estate agent from Hout Bay Janene Loxton, who claimed that I operated illegally without a license, and who conspired against me to harm my reputation along with Matt Mercer.
Take a look at her whatsapp message to me after we moved into the property that she had previously listed for sale, viz. 3A Park Avenue, Victorskloof, and which she managed to relist for sale shortly before our lease was to end.
I came home one day to find her for sale boards up, which I’m sure she took great delight in doing without any prior warning to ourselves from Davenall himself.
Janene Loxton interferes in our tenancy to relist the property for sale
MALICIOUS INTENT TO TARNISH MY GOOD NAME AND REPUTATION IN THE INDUSTRY
Let it be clear, Romy Tarboton went on a major mission to start a smear campaign against me and my newly formed company, effectively to put me out of business and to tarnish my reputation.
She lost the High Court case, and took it on appeal to the SCA. Which was not defended by myself, because for me it had become pointless. The harm inflicted had been enough.
I was vilified in my industry by fellow agents.
The harm Romy Tarboton says she endured in online published articles, of how she had just had a baby and how it affected her so much, was self inflicted.
Likewise the litigation was cause for much distress in our household.
My partner and co-founder Jeremy Thomson, who has an auto-immune disease viz. multiple sclerosis, has never recovered, and after this ordeal he couldn’t walk without being assisted.
VICIOUS LITIGATION WHILST ACTUALLY AT FAULT FOR NON-COMPLIANCE ACCORDING TO THE ACT
The person Romy should hold accountable for all this distress, is herself.
She launched the litigation against my company, my Principal partner Charles Edwards and his company Charles Edwards Properties.
We did what anyone would do, that is uphold the law.
The Estate Agency Affairs Act was clear about operating without a valid FFC.
Charles Edwards is a highly educated facilitator and he taught me the NQF5 workbook, so we knew that Signature weren’t compliant and why.
It never was the EAAB who were tardy and they were not at fault. To say that it was obvious to us that the EAAB was at fault, was a blatant lie, as we communicated that clearly to you.
It was you, Romy Tarboton, who appointed a Director to your company who wasn’t a Principal agent, a fatal error.
You wished to cover your tracks in your own tardiness, thereby letting your agents down by not having achieved any of the required education qualifications and ensuring your company was compliant and their FFC’s issued for 2017 and 2018.
MULTIPLE VIOLATIONS OF THE PROTECTION ORDER
For the appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal, Romy Tarboton launched a crowd funding campaign to fund this with a Youtube video and published an article on her company website (further violating the protection order that had been issued 5 months prior to its publishing online) as well as Property Professional under the guise of “Taking on the Estate Agency Affairs Board”, even though they had been withdrawn as a respondent in the High Court matter shortly after they officially charged us.
EAAB AND JOSEPH SAKONEKA COMPLICIT IN CARRYING OUT ATTACKS
In fact the EAAB had been quite instrumental in carrying out Romy Tarboton’s demands. That the EAAB’s Registrations manager, Joseph Sakoneka back-dated their newly issued FFC’s for 2018 was also highlighted as disturbing by the High Court Acting Judge Diane Davis. Joseph Sakoneka’s reason of his so-called oversight that he stated in his affidavit, for not issuing Signature’s FFC’s was never given. Acting Judge Diane Davis, notes this in her Judgment.
Interestingly, Joseph Sakoneka seems to have been very instrumental in the suspension and firing of the then CEO of the EAAB. Mamodupi Mohlala, after he was fired from the EAAB shortly after his back-dating of the FFC’s including issuing his notorious affidavit.
The full Judgment of the High Court matter can be read here SRE vs ASR JUDGMENT.
SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL HEADS OF ARGUMENT
As for the Supreme Court of Appeal, a few things in the appeal should be highlighted as misrepresentation, viz. Advocate Kantor relied on the false statement that Signature Real Estate and all its agents, at the time there were probably around 10 or more, had all been issued Fidelity Fund Certificates, but in the incorrect name. This is untrue, there existed only two FFC’s, the firm’s FFC in the name of Hidocol cc and Romy Gordon’s as Principal of Hidocol t/a Signature Real Estate. No other agent was in possession of an FFC whatsoever. That Romy Tarboton did nothing about this until this was brought to my attention, should be noted.
NO DECORUM
That I outlined exactly where and why her firm was not compliant, instead of it being received with a level of grace and humility, I was vilified, discredited and threatened with charges of theft. Of course I wasn’t going to give in to this intimidation and really should have actioned it accordingly. What followed was my defending her notice of motion in the High Court, at a considerable cost to my company as well. When we were victorious, we didn’t post on social media about being winners, we were relieved that justice had finally been upheld.
CLAIMS THAT HER BUSINESS WAS DESTROYED BECAUSE OF INFLUENCES OUTSIDE OF HER OWN
To discover that I am responsible for destroying her business, really is further injustice to what I have already endured.
IN FULL SUPPORT OF SCA JUDGMENT
Atlantic Seaboard Realty supports the Supreme Court of Appeal’s judgment, in that if an agent/agency has been let down by the authority, and has proven that they were fully compliant but due to the inefficiency of the board, not been issued their FFC, that they are indeed entitled to claim commission. Ofcourse Signature Real Estate were not compliant and therefore not entitled to claim commission for the entire year of 2017 up until 8 May 2018. Anyone that paid them commission did so unlawfully, even though they were not aware of this.
THE EAAA REPEALED AND REPLACED BY THE PROPERTY PRACTITIONERS ACT
However, none of this has any bearing whatsoever as the Estate Agency Affairs Act has been repealed and replaced by the Property Practitioners Act, which was a Bill at the time of this case, and which I pointed out to Romy Tarboton and her lawyer, so the case law that came from this is irrelevant.
NO RESPECT FOR THE LAW
Romy Tarboton violated a protection from harassment order on numerous occasions, back-dated the resignation letter of her co-director to forge compliance, tarnished my reputation by violating my Constitutional right to Dignity, defamed me regarding the outcome of the charges of misconduct. Used litigation to intimidate my co-principal partner to resign and have the EAAB charge us for misconduct, pretended to be representing the industry with her call for crowdfunding the appeal as taking a stand against the EAAB, whilst it was actually against my company. She lied in her video stating that it was obvious to us that the EAAB was at fault for not issuing her FFC’s. We knew exactly why she wasn’t in possession of her FFC’s and it was because she wasn’t even qualified as a Principal agent at the time of the dispute, which is why she was clueless as to why her firm was not compliant. She also lied about her agents being in possession of FFC’s but in the wrong company name. None of them had an FFC at all! This was how she misled the SCA judges in her appeal. Romy Tarboton has demonstrated her scant regard for the law.
TRANSFORMATION IN THE PROPERTY INDUSTRY
It is sad to think that Charles Edwards and myself were actively engaged in the transformation Joseph Sakoneka talks about in his interview with eNCA of 2022, as per the Property Sector Charter. Since the beginning of 2018, Atlantic Seaboard Realty had been training three previously disadvantaged intern agents.
That Charles and I were found guilty of misconduct by the EAAB, instead of being rewarded for our participation in the Property Sector Charter initiative came as a shock. It was disheartening considering our efforts to participate in positive upliftment in our industry.
Furthermore the three members who sat in on the Committee of Inquiry, were friends of Charles and they were instructed by Kgwadi Mphepya, who presided over the hearing, to pass a guilty charge or else they would no longer be invited to sit in on these inquiries.
The various publications, made during the restraining order regarding this case is as follows:
Frank Holland Attorneys’ published a post that was an actual interview with Romy Tarboton and I quote, she refers to me as: “withholding payment of our share of commission out of pure spite”, ” didn’t want another Agent/Agency falling prejudice to commission being withheld from them, motivated by the greed of unscrupulous competitors”, “Reputation is everything in Real Estate and my integrity was being publicly questioned.”
https://www.fha.law.za/the-story-behind-the-signature-real-estate-judgement/
https://everythingproperty.co.za/no-commission-no-fidelity-find-certificate-not-always-the-case/
https://everythingproperty.co.za/agency-fights-to-overturn-no-ffc-no-commission-ruling/
https://propertyprofessional.co.za/2019/01/09/high-court-rules-no-ffc-no-commission/
https://propertyprofessional.co.za/2019/04/17/no-ffc-no-commission-to-be-resolved-by-supreme-court/
https://clickndonate.com/sa-estate-agents-appeal-ruling-goal-r-220-000/
COMMISSION CLAIMS – CASE LAW UPDATE: FFC delayed? You can still claim your commission!
https://www.duvenage.co.za/blog/estate-agents-commission-and-the-ffc-2/
https://nsvattorneys.com/news/blog-articles/10-news/47-no-ffc-no-commission-not-always-the-case/
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/G6wVkqdQn8jGzjQa/
https://propertyprofessional.co.za/2021/09/17/we-need-a-new-deal/
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