It happens from time to time that persons agree ‘in principle’ to enter into a formal agreement about a specific matter. In this judgment, the court grappled with just such a scenario relating to the sale of land…
Clauses making a transaction subject to a buyer’s successful loan application are common features in sale agreements of land. The wording in these clauses often rings similar, requiring a letter of offer, a quotation and a pre-agreement to be provided as proof that the loan has been obtained…
This judgment illustrates the dilemma often faced by bodies corporate in collecting arrear levies: although it acts on behalf of and for the well-being of all owners, it cannot sequestrate a defaulting owner if it cannot be shown that the step will also be for the benefit of all other creditors of the owner…
It does not often happen that a sale agreement is entered into requiring the seller to pass transfer and then to wait for payment of the purchase price by way of a subsidy grant some time later…
This judgment is an important acknowledgement of property owners’ rights when faced with large and delayed municipal utility bills. Here the owner received and paid water bills based on an estimated reading over a period of about 5.5 years…
Local authorities usually include a certain amount of future (estimated) rates when issuing figures payable for a rates clearance certificate to be issued. This is generally assumed to cover the seller’s future rates liability from the date the certificate is issued up to the time of transfer…
X had regularly, for 35 years, maintained rental payments under a lease. However, due to oversight on X’s bank’s side, rental was paid late on two occasions, a few months apart. The lease agreement allowed for immediate cancellation of the lease on breach, as the parties did not include a clause providing that an opportunity to rectify the breach must be given to the defaulting party…
Where property is sold in an instalment sale agreement, our law requires the contract to be recorded within a certain timeline against the property’s title deed, essentially to protect the purchaser should the seller try to sell the property to a third party without the instalment-paying purchaser’s knowledge…
Yes and no. For long, and because of sound policy considerations, our law ruled that pre-emptive rights relating to the sale of immovable property must be in writing in order to be valid and binding. ..
The Constitutional Court held in this matter that even where there was a purported consent by an illegal occupier to eviction, this did not absolve the Court from its duty to consider all the relevant circumstances and satisfying itself that it is just and equitable to grant the eviction order…
It has for long been a rule of our law that pre-emptive rights relating to the sale of immovable property must be in writing in order to be valid and binding. In finding in this matter that the granting of a pre-emptive right is not an ‘alienation’ and therefore needs not comply with the “in writing and signed” requirements of the Alienation of Land Act, new considerations sprout…
To make provision for its residents, be it the elderly, those enjoying the availability of golf carts or the owners generally, many homeowners’ associations have rules regarding the use of roads within the estate…
The facts of this matter make for a textbook example of things that can go awry when the basic requirements of dealing with a trust as a party to a transaction are not adhered to. The sale agreement was void as the trust’s representative signed it without first obtaining the written authority to do so from the other trustee…
Can neighbours take the owner of a property – on which a guest house is operated in contravention of municipal zoning regulations – to court for illegal use of the property, or must these zoning provisions be enforced by the local municipality?
Procedural ‘formalities’ often crystallize from lessons learnt in everyday transacting. For the cancellation of agreements, unless stipulated otherwise, formalities dictate that the defaulting party must be given clear details of the alleged breach, be afforded a timeframe in which to rectify it, and must be advised of the other party’s right to elect, on a failure to rectify the breach, whether to keep the defaulting party to the agreement or to cancel it (and claim damages)
For an agreement to come into effect, consensus must be reached in respect of all the material terms…
We all know that agreements are binding and that parties must therefore comply with the provisions thereof. In fact, an aggrieved party generally has the right to an order of specific performance if the other party fails to be true to his word…