Legal news and commentary from the offices of Simon Dippenaar
How mediation can resolve disputes and keep the case out of court Rental housing is a minefield. Tenants and landlords alike renege on the commitments they make in the lease agreement. Tenants stop paying rent, landlords refuse to return deposits. Tenants damage property, landlords unlawfully change locks. Tenants sublet without the landlord’s consent, landlords fail […]
We take a closer look Land reform is a much-debated issue in South Africa. No one (well, almost no one) disputes the urgent need to right some of the wrongs of the past regarding land ownership, to advance transformation. However, the ways and means of achieving this reform are not always full agreed upon. We’ve […]
Follow these 10 dos and don’ts for eviction and avoid litigation We often hear from clients: “I need to evict my tenant. But I’m worried I’ll be sued.” While we’re nothing like the US in terms of readiness to sue, society is becoming more litigious (which means “tending to take legal action to settle disputes”). […]
Cape Town – Social housing giant Communicare has dismissed claims that a Rondebosch tenant was unlawfully evicted. Karabo Makgoane, who lived at the Welverdiend complex, claimed that she was unlawfully evicted by Communicare because the organisation was supposed to give her alternative accommodation. “I have been living in the Welverdiend flat since 2017. I was […]
Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers and Rural Development and Land Reform Deputy Minister Mcebisi Skwatsha brought some relief to nearly 100 destitute people after they were evicted from the farm Klein Akker near Wallacedene in Kraaifontein. They have been living in a temporary place for more than two months, with no food or water […]
The sting in the tail when a tenant moves out is often a legacy of unpaid bills Your tenants have moved out, either willingly or through the eviction process. Then you get hit with a large unpaid rates bill by the local municipality. What do you do? If it comes to this, the answer is […]
The end of a tenancy is not the time to discover your tenant has not been paying the municipal bills or “rates” – property taxes and utility bills like electricity, water and sewerage, etc. At that stage you are faced with the difficult task of trying to recover the money. It is far better to […]
Illegal evictions and fatalities are calling cards of Red Ants At Cape Town eviction lawyers Simon Dippenaar & Associates (SDLAW), we were angered and saddened to learn of recent illegal actions by the Gauteng security company Red Ants. The Red Ants firm specialises in “urban management support services for human settlements”, and was established to […]
