Chris Fick & Associates

Your neighbour builds without plans – Can you get a demolition order?

What can you do if your neighbour has started (or finished) building without the necessary municipal approvals? In a nutshell, our courts will very probably assist you with a demolition order, as a recent High Court decision around a long-running property encroachment illustrates. The 16 year saga of an encroaching garage A couple, owners of […]

Purchasers are no longer a target for historical municipal property debts

On 29 August 2017 the Constitutional Court, through Judge Edwin Cameron, handed down a unanimous judgement in the matter of Jordaan v Tshwane Municipality. In terms hereof municipalities cannot collect outstanding property rates and services accounts incurred by previous owners from the new owners of the properties. Put more simply, new owners of properties cannot […]