Legal Articles and Guides

The Covid-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns and restrictions have impacted negatively on many businesses, and there has been much uncertainty as to whether commercial tenants of leased property are entitled to claim a remission of rental if their trading activities are curtailed.

The SCA has dismissed, in large part, an appeal by the City of Cape Town against an interim ruling preventing the eviction of people and demolition of structures without a court order during the National State of Disaster.

'Unprecedented circumstances’ brought on by the Covid-19 lockdown regulations have seen a legal battle between a commercial tenant and a landlord thrashed out in the Western Cape High Court.

The Western Cape High Court has reserved judgment in the eviction case of 46 homeless people in District Six, whose structures were forcibly destroyed by law enforcement officials two weeks ago.

“Unlawful occupiers” of land have strong rights under our Constitution and other laws, and most property owners and landlords understand the need to tread carefully whenever the issue of eviction arises. They are required to comply fully with the provisions of PIE (the “Prevention of Illegal Eviction and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act”) – certainly achievable but never to be taken lightly.

The SCA has upheld an appeal against an order of the Western Cape High Court, over a lease agreement between Capital Propfund 4 and Harbour Arch Investment Holdings.

The SCA has upheld an appeal against a Western Cape High Court decision to evict a Cape Town woman, her 83-year-old mother and their housekeeper.

After a 12-year battle, Clara Phillips (84) and her disabled son have been vindicated by the SCA that ruled against their eviction from a Somerset West property.

The Constitutional Court has come to the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) rescue, says a report in The Herald. It ruled in the institution’s favour in a case involving land UJ leased to a school of theology 25 years ago.

The KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) has declared the Ingonyama Trust Board’s (ITB’s) residential lease programme unlawful and has ordered it to pay back millions it has collected from residents since 2012.

More than 100 families face eviction at the Steen Villa social housing complex in Steenberg over their failure to pay rent.

A farmer’s application to evict the adult children of farmworkers employed on his farm Hammansdans outside Wellington in the Western Cape has been dismissed by Judge Zeenat Carelse in the Land Claims Court.

The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) has ruled the eviction of a group illegally occupying a property in Dunkeld was unlawful, and they should be allowed to move back onto the property, says a News24 report.

Landlords can be sorely tempted to force defaulting tenants to settle their arrears (or to vacate the premises altogether) with a bit of instant “self-help” by cutting electricity or water supplies, or perhaps by changing locks or disabling access codes.

A street in the upmarket Johannesburg suburb of Dunkeld was lined with mattresses and scattered belongings as more than 50 people were evicted from a property that they say they had been occupying for more than 10 years.