Property

Trends:

• Consensus has it that the tide is turning in the property market – whilst this may be so, there is little of this yet aside from interest. Investors are reportedly piling into the listed property sector to take advantage of the coming surge.
• Whilst Gauteng remains the top destination for foreigners wanting to settle in South Africa (think economic hub), the Western Cape is a close second, owing to its landscapes, beaches and so on. Businesstech reports that 1.1m foreign-born residents stay in Gauteng, compared to the Western Cape, where only 368000 foreigners reside.
• Cape Town leads in new property registrations.
• TPN reports that 83% of residential tenants are paying their rentals on time. Tenants within the R7-12k band, are the best payers.
• Redefine says that our commercial property market is also turning around, but landlords are still, reportedly, cutting office rents to retain tenants.

 

News:

• The City of Johannesburg has just taken a beating in seeking a judgement against Mir-Air Prop (Pty) Ltd for unpaid rates and taxes; the city’s chaotic account system led to it being subjected to a punitive costs order.
• The construction mafia is, remarkably (or not?), still in the news: the Minister of Public Works reported that half of its building projects are in arrears with delays attributed to non-performing contractors, the construction mafia, funding issues and legal disputes.
• The Land Bank’s financial constraints are such that it had defaulted on its debts but is now happy to report that it has reached an agreement with its lenders that would cure R40bn of its debt! This from a lender that used to account for 30% of agricultural funding!
• Municipal woes are paraded daily: an article by Moneyweb drew my attention on it reporting that luxury houses had been erected within illegal developments in Gauteng. This was followed up by a call from SAPOA that action should be taken against such. This is not remarkable in any way; our municipality has similar issues; what makes it worse is that the municipality has connected such houses to sewerage and electricity networks, despite its bylaws prohibiting this. Much of this looking the other way, is politically driven and will take years to sort out.
• The five municipalities which SALGA believes have the highest number of non-vending electricity trail meters are: eThekwini, Nelson Mandela Bay, City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, and Maluti-a-Phofung. Of these, one expects high numbers of meters in the metros, but the last is surprising as it is not one of our larger centres.
• Tongaat Hulett had, for many years, developed our North Coast as it owned much of the land and had diversified into development. With the closure of its real estate division, following on financial woes, a new player on the block, Devmco, has become the master developer, leading with the Sibaya Coastal Precinct development.
• Last night Moneyweb reported on a Department of Public Works/private sector partnership which will revamp and sell or re-purpose for state purposes unoccupied state buildings. So, the input into the partnership is the property by the State (on all three levels of governance) and the private sector in terms of getting things done and marketing. Of yore one would have expected the Department of Public Works to have done the getting things done! But then…TIA.

 

Legal stuff:

• May a Body Corporate of a sectional scheme, refuse to issue a levy certificate if the full sum due to it has not been paid? Yes: https://www.phinc.co.za/OurInsights/ArticleDetail.aspx?Title=Can-a-body-corporate-withhold-a-clearance-certificate&utm
• Neighbour law and plant encroachment: https://stbb.co.za/pulse-encroaching-branches-make-bad-neighbours-a-brief-overview-of-legal-recourse-in-arboreal-disputes/
• If it becomes clear that a transaction might fail because of non-compliance with the financial arrangements, do have the parties agree to change or waive the contract conditions, prior to the time within which the contract fails for that reason: https://www.werksmans.com/legal-updates-and-opinions/the-transaction-did-not-flow/
• Can an estate/complex force you to use a particular service provider; by way of example, of cable services? No: https://businesstech.co.za/news/property/797184/trouble-for-estates-and-complexes-in-south-africa/
• Who is liable for historical debt to a municipality? https://stbb.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/stbb_plu24-2024-s1.pdf

 

Practise

News:

• Old and new news: RAF: our Minister of Transport has asked the RAF not to continue with its legal challenge of the AG disclaimers of its 2020/2021 annual financials. Whatever, it’s broke and has been for some time.
• Our Minister of Justice has signed an MOU which will list defaulters of child maintenance with the Consumer Profile Bureau and thus restrict their access to finance.
• The Citizen ran an article on the Mpumalanga High Court building having failed to meet occupational health and safety standards. Reading the fine print, one is struck by reports on malfunctioning toilets, leaking roofs and electrical issues not having been attended to. One wonders whether the judges did not see this – magistrates mostly don’t; and surely judges’ voices are heard – even by the Department of Public Works?
• An interesting note, on the state of our judicial system in Gauteng, was flighted by Webbers; worth a look, even if only to note the disastrous result of neglect: https://www.webberwentzel.com/News/Pages/simplifying-to-save-gautengs-judicial-system.aspx

 

Hard news:

• The enforcement of restraint of trade clauses are inherently urgent but employers are still required to meet the legal requirements for urgent relief: https://caf.co.za/understanding-the-inherent-quality-of-urgency-in-restraint-of-trade-applications/
• The Western Cape High Court has come out in support of remote commissioning of affidavits: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2024/333.html
• A kerfuffle that arose from a bank that sold a defective machine to a client to a client on ‘HP’, led to a discussion, in the Cape High Court, on the unequal bargaining position of parties, which is instructive (at paragraph 76): https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2024/343.html
• Anti-dissipation interdicts are not common: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2024/346.html
• Shareholders should not be asked to vote on a resolution if the notice of the meeting does not provide sufficient information to enable a shareholder to determine whether to participate in the meeting or not: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2024/347.html
• Of late, fraudulent amendment of invoices sent on the net, have made the news often. If known payment particulars change, do call: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2024/352.html

 

Conveyancing:

• The Registrar’s Conference Resolutions are available – ask me for a copy.
• The Chief Registrar of Deeds has issued CRC 3/2024 which deals with the new names of Deeds Registries and how they should be brought forward. Please note that the changes come into operation on the 15^th of this month. If you do not have this – ask me for a copy.
• The Master’s Office, Durban, is in communications disarray. Owing to outdated IT some three quarters of staff have no functioning phone lines and there is a struggle for email and system connectivity. One can only marvel that things got that bad before anyone paid attention!

 

Lighten up

On IT:

• “Before you marry a person, you should first make them use a computer with slow Internet service to see who they really are.” Will Ferrell
• “Hardware: The parts of a computer system that can be kicked.” Jeff Pesis
• What kind of computer sings the best?  A Dell.

 

 

Written by: Daan Steenkamp
https://www.daansteenkampattorneys.co.za/ 

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Still looking for your dream home, or wanting to sell? Feel free to give one of our developers a call today.

Tom Eastwick – The Gates, Hilton and Garlington, Hilton | 072 297 2699 | tom@devdirect.co.za
Janet Channing – Waterford Residential Estate, Howick | 082 570 5834 | janet@devdirect.co.za

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