Selling your house? Choose your own conveyancer
For most people, your house is your most important asset. So when you sell it (or any other property for that matter), it is absolutely critical to entrust the process to a conveyancer you can trust to act with both speed and integrity. The conveyancer’s role When you sell property, the conveyancer is the specialist […]
Can you still sell as is? CPA v the voetstoots clause
Both sellers and buyers (of anything – houses, cars, you name it) need to understand how the CPA (Consumer Protection Act) has impacted on the very common “voetstoots” (“as is”) clause. Firstly, what’s the difference between “patent” and “latent” defects? Before we get into the meat of this question, let’s understand two important terms – […]
Be smart. Trust your attorney to sell your property.
For most people, buying a home may well be the biggest single investment any person will ever make. No one should ever take a risk with this transaction. Buyers should involve their attorneys throughout the process. Home owners sometimes consider selling their homes privately and ask their attorneys to help with the sale contract. In […]
Closing down the guesthouse next door: Notes for owners and neighbours
“You can be a good neighbour only if you have good neighbours” (Howard E. Koch, playwright) You decide – for whatever reason – that your neighbour’s new guesthouse is definitely not first prize in your sleepy and peaceful suburb, so you investigate. You find out that the local municipal zoning scheme doesn’t allow anyone to […]
How the “Historical Rates” judgment affects you
“It is declared that, upon transfer of a property, a new owner is not liable for debts arising before transfer from the charge upon the property …” (Constitutional Court Order) How does the recent Constitutional Court decision on “historical rates” affect you in practice? Understanding the issue At issue was that some municipalities would force […]
‘N BITTER PIL! ‘N EIENAAR KAN AS ‘N ONWETTIGE BESETTER UIT SY EIE HUIS GESIT WORD
Al is jy die geregistreerde eienaar van ‘n huis, kan jy steeds as ‘n “onwettige besetter” uit die huis gesit word. Ons is almal vertroud met die mees algemene geval waar ‘n eienaar vrywilliglik besit aan ‘n ander persoon afstaan; dit is waar die woning uitverhuur word. ‘n Meer ingewikkelde geval is waar die eienaar […]
TRUMPED! A HOME OWNER CAN BE EVICTED AS AN UNLAWFUL OCCUPIER
Did you know that even as the owner of a house, you could still be evicted from it as an “unlawful occupier”? That could happen if, to take one example from a recent SCA (Supreme Court of Appeal) matter, you give someone else a right of habitation (“habitatio”). But why, you may ask, would you […]
PROPERTY SELLERS: JUST HOW FAR DOES YOUR DUTY TO DISCLOSE GO?
“Where a seller recklessly tells half-truths or knows the facts, but does not reveal them because he or she has not bothered to consider the significance, this may also amount to fraud” (extract from judgment below) Firstly, a note on the CPA What is said below does not pertain to those property sales where the […]
PROPERTY OWNERS: MANAGE YOUR RISK OF BEING SUED
What happens if someone is injured or killed, or suffers some other form of loss on your property? Three recent court cases highlight your risk of liability for any potential dangers that you don’t take reasonable steps to avoid. Case 1: The landlord, the holiday let and the visitor who fell from the stairs “The […]
BUYING AND SELLING PROPERTY: THE BOND CLAUSE BLUES, AND HOW TO BEAT THEM
“Men keep agreements when it is to the advantage of neither to break them” (Solon, Athenian lawgiver c. 638 BC – 559 BC) Here’s the story of yet another High Court battle over a disputed property sale agreement. A fight over how to interpret the “bond clause” again highlighted how vital it is to clearly […]