by Wessels + Van Zyl Inc | Jul 29, 2024 | Property
“Good fences make good neighbours.” (Robert Frost) When you buy into a community scheme (such as a security estate, complex or apartment block) you automatically become a member of its management body: either a Homeowners Association (“HOA”) if your property is...
by Wessels + Van Zyl Inc | Jun 25, 2024 | Criminal Law / Crime, Property
“[The buyer] must in the circumstances take responsibility for her failure to protect herself against a known risk” (extract from judgment below) Cybercriminals absolutely love targeting property transactions because they provide the perfect mix of large money...
by Wessels + Van Zyl Inc | May 27, 2024 | Property
“A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on” (Samuel Goldwyn) Perhaps you are a seller marketing your property through an estate agency, or a buyer asking an agent to find you one, or a landlord employing an agent to let out your property....
by Wessels + Van Zyl Inc | May 27, 2024 | Contract, Property, Trusts
“Externally, trustees cannot disagree. In the external sphere the Trust functions by virtue of its resolutions, which have to be supported by the full complement of the Trust body.” (Extract from judgment below) A recent Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment provides...
by Wessels + Van Zyl Inc | Apr 25, 2024 | Property
“[w]here a seller recklessly tells a half-truth or knows the facts but does not reveal them because he or she has not bothered to consider their significance, this may also amount to fraud” … “a willful abstention from establishing the true facts does not constitute a...
by Wessels + Van Zyl Inc | Mar 25, 2024 | Property
“…there is no obligation on the [seller] to obtain an occupancy certificate and to furnish it to the [buyers]” (Extract from judgment below) Imagine this – you buy your dream home, pay for it, take transfer into your name, and move in. But then disaster strikes. The...