On 28 November, PayProp invited top residential rental professionals to the fourth annual PayProp Awards.
This online event recognises the very best in the South African residential rental sector, and has become a cornerstone of PayProp’s annual event calendar since we crowned our first winners back in 2021.
“Today is all about celebrating the property practitioners,” said Sarah Fourie, Head of Client Services at PayProp, in her opening remarks. “These incredible professionals have raised the bar for the industry. A special shoutout to the rental administrators who work with PayProp every day, bringing clarity, control, speed, and efficiency to your agency accounts. And we also want to acknowledge the decision-makers who ultimately lead these success stories – the principals and owners of the winning agencies, and the franchisors and licensors we recognise today.”
PayProp Masters Awards – 15 years of rental payment automation
First in line for recognition were this year’s PayProp Masters Award winners. These clients have been processing client funds with PayProp for 15 uninterrupted years. This year, we were pleased to induct 28 new entrants into this growing club – a new record, and almost double the 15 we recognised last year!
PayProp Performance Awards – the fastest growing portfolios on PayProp
Our second category, the PayProp Performance Awards, celebrated exceptional growth in the number of tenancies managed and the amount of rent processed through PayProp. As with previous years, we awarded the strongest growth over the past three years, and over the past year.
Our winner over three years was Property Connect, who built on their success in the one-year category last year and notched up a massive 380% business growth. The fastest growth over one year belonged to BCI Properties, who grew by an incredible 689%!
PayProp Processing Awards – our biggest client books
The PayProp Processing Award goes to clients with exceptional rental processing volume over the last year. Two certificates are awarded in this category – one to the biggest franchised agency, and one to the biggest independent.
The independent category saw the return of some of last year’s winners. Newcomers PlusGroup Rentals took third place, Louw & Coetzee Properties repeated last year’s second place, while IGrow Rentals (formerly SA Investor Rentals) took home the win for the second year running.
In the franchised division, Just Property Prosper achieved third place. Dormehl Phalane Property Group took second place, just as they did last year. But the prize was clinched by Engel & Völkers Potchefstroom, up in first place after finishing third in 2023.
PayProp Power User Awards – getting the most out of the platform that powers leaders
The Power User Awards go to the agencies that make best use of three of PayProp’s most impactful ancillary features (outside our core automated rental payment processing engine): the PayProp Tenant Assessment Report, Damage Deposit Managing Service, and Property Account Managing Service.
This year’s Power User Award for use of our damage deposit functionality went to Sotheby’s International Realty Knysna. Our 2024 Property Account Power Users were Engel & Völkers Sea Point. And our top Tenant Assessment Report users were repeat winners Century 21 Sandton.
PayProp Velocity Award – high-performance newcomers
Another award for overall performance, the PayProp Velocity Award, goes to clients who haven’t been on PayProp for long, but have made incredible progress over the past year – both in increased processing volume and use of the full PayProp product ecosystem.
Realtors International Strand and Deuce Real Estate won special mention for their excellent performances.
But there could only be one winner, and this year that was BCI Properties, who also took a PayProp Performance Award (above).
PayProp Pinnacle Award – the apex of achievement in payment processing
Finally, we awarded the most prestigious prize of the day: the PayProp Pinnacle Award. This goes to the agency with the best overall performance across all our growth, processing and platform usage categories.
Our two runners-up this year were Freek Properties and last year’s winner Property Decoded.
In the end, though, Seeff Strand was crowned as our overall winner this year, building on last year’s honourable mention. Alten Vermaak and his record-breaking team have set the standard for rental agencies in the Strand area and nationwide, delivering the highest level of service backed by trusted technology.
“We thank you for joining us in congratulating all the winners, and congratulations to all the runners-up too,” said Sarah Fourie. “Your efforts show what can be done by making great business decisions.”
