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 […]
Reprinted from the Daily Maverick, by Geoffrey Allsop – 2022-09-27 We explain in detail what the courts have ruled Since the Covid pandemic began, occupations of public land by destitute people have increased in various parts of the country. Below, we explain what the law currently says about when the government can lawfully remove people from […]
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 […]
The power of social media is immense. So much more than a mere communication tool, it’s a cornerstone of citizen journalism and can be one of the most effective ways in which ordinary people can tell important stories as they happen. What’s more, content posted on social media can be the grounds for legal action […]
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 […]
Is it worth your while to sue your tenant for rent arrears or other costs? There are many ways in which a tenant can breach the terms of the lease, triggering the eviction process, but by far the most common is non-payment of rent. While you may succeed in evicting the non-paying tenant, eviction itself […]
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 […]
