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Mar 17
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Communicare tenants in Thornton flats face eviction today

By | Eviction news, Eviction notice, Eviction orders, Evictions, Rent
Eleven families living at the Communicare Albatross flats in Thornton face eviction today after their matter was struck off the Western Cape High Court’s roll on Friday. Picture: Tracey Adams / African News Agency (ANA)
Eleven families living at the Communicare Albatross flats in Thornton face eviction today after their matter was struck off the Western Cape High Court’s roll on Friday. Picture: Tracey Adams / African News Agency (ANA)

Cape Town – Despite their efforts, 11 families living at the Communicare Albatross flats in Thornton face eviction today after their matter was struck off the Western Cape High Court’s roll on Friday.

The tenants had approached the court to prevent Communicare from evicting them and others at various properties.

They also asked for the suspension of the chairperson, for a forensic audit into the institution’s affairs, and for an order preventing Communicare from transferring assets to its subsidiary, Good Find Properties.

The tenants said they were being forced to sign new leases with Good Find Properties at prices they could not afford.

The Western Cape High Court had granted Communicare an eviction order in November.

“Advocate Dondolo reported to the assembly outside the Cape High Court that the Albatross file was stolen from the High Court Archives.

’’At the beginning of the court proceedings,the clerk of the court informed the court judge that the content of the file had disappeared,” the Communicare Tenant Beneficiaries said.

“This exposes the 11 families at Albatross flats in Thornton to being evicted by Communicare on Monday (today). Communicare has been trying to evict our tenants since August 2019.

’’Advocate Mbenyane will reinstate the Albatross case and will request an inquiry at the high court as to the reasons for the Albatross file being stolen,” they added.

Communicare said the attorneys representing the tenants had not shown up.

“The applicants and their attorneys did not pitch for court so the matter was struck off the roll. The eviction order stands for the sheriff to execute,” said the stakeholder relations officer at Communicare, Megan Lennert.

Last week Communicare announced it would be selling all its Ruyterwacht properties.

This was not received well by tenants who say they want the title deeds, accusing the organisation of trying to make a profit from assets.

In an open letter to Communicare, tenant and chairperson of the Ruyterwacht Community Association Mandisa Zamile said: “We, the Communicare Tenant Beneficiaries from Ruyterwacht, reject the unlawful sales offer to buy the social housing rental stock in Ruyterwacht.

“We know, unless you can prove otherwise, that during apartheid years, Communicare illegally grabbed the social housing rental stock and land from the apartheid social housing agency called the Citizens Housing League.”

Communicare said it was the legal owner of the property and the sales would go ahead.

Reprinted from IOL some links added by SD Law

Simon Dippenaar & Associates, Inc. is a Cape Town law firm of specialist eviction lawyers,  now operating in Johannesburg and Durban, helping both landlords and tenants with the eviction process. Contact one of our attorneys on0860995146 or simon@sdlaw.co.za if you need advice on the eviction process or if you are facing unlawful eviction.

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Feb 10
0

David Mabuza’s assurance was misleading

By | COVID 19, Eviction news, Eviction notice, Eviction orders, Expropriation Bill, Farm evictions

Four months after the Deputy President, David Mabuza, assured South Africans that no farmer will be evicted from their farms under the government’s land redistribution programme, Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) officials have been going around giving farmers one-week notices to vacate their farms.

On 22 October 2020, while answering questions in the National Assembly on the government’s planned 700 000 hectare land redistribution programme, Mabuza unambiguously stated that “…those people that are currently occupying those farms (identified for redistribution), I don’t think there is any intention to forcefully remove people at this point in time”.

Mabuza’s assurance was obviously misleading because Mr Ivan Cloete, a successful pig farmer at Colenso farm in the Western Cape was recently served with a 7-day notice to vacate his farm by officials from the DALRRD’s Western Cape provincial offices. The claim by these officials that Mr Cloete does not qualify to continue practising his farming activities at Colenso farm is nothing but naked abuse of power designed to intimidate him into giving up his livelihood. The DA will not stand by and allow the use of dubious eviction orders to harass and victimise a defenceless farmer.

The unfair treatment of Mr Cloete appears to confirm well-founded fears among farmers that 700 000 hectare scheme was now being used as a cover by DALRRD officials to intimidate them into vacating their farms. What makes this state-sanctioned intimidation worse is that the farms of some of the farmers facing this intimidation do not form part of the 700 000 hectare program.

The DA has always been on record arguing that the chaotic approach to land reform will open up avenues for corrupt abuse of the process and disrupt the agricultural sector:

On 10 March 2020, I warned members of the Portfolio Committee that, even without data or information on the monitoring and evaluation of land reform, Departmental officials had been issuing eviction notices haphazardly.

During a committee session on 01 December 2020, I told committee members that farmers in the Western Cape, Gauteng and Mpumalanga who have been on the land for years, had received letters to vacate in the past year.

It is ominous that while the controversial section 25 amendment is being debated in Parliament, farmers are already facing unrelenting pressure to vacate their farms from a Department that has gone rogue. Mabuza and his colleagues in government have an obligation to stop this reckless targeting of farmers before it inflicts irreparable damage to the agricultural sector and the economy.

Reprinted from Politics Web by Annette Steyn

Simon Dippenaar & Associates, Inc. is a Cape Town law firm of specialist eviction lawyers, now operating in Johannesburg and Durban, helping both landlords and tenants with the eviction process. Contact one of our attorneys on 086 099 5146 or sdippenaar@sdlaw.co.za if you need advice on the eviction process or if you are facing unlawful eviction.

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Jan 27
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Landlord of Parkview Units wants to evict 300 former Schubart Park residents

By | Eviction news, Eviction notice, Eviction orders, Evictions, Lease Agreement, Rent
A file picture of the Schubart Park complex. Picture: African News Agency (ANA)
A file picture of the Schubart Park complex. Picture: African News Agency (ANA)

Pretoria – The landlord of Parkview Units ‒ one of three housing complexes which have been accommodating former Schubart Park residents ‒ wants to evict the more than 300 people staying there.

At the centre of the storm is the reluctance by the City of Tshwane to increase the rent. It was also said that some residents were totally out of hand and vandalising the building.

The buildings have reportedly been vandalised to such an extent that it is becoming inhabitable and dangerous.

Singyung Investments turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, asking for an order that the City relocated the residents and that they, as the landlord, may evict the residents. The application is due to be heard this week.

According to the landlord, the agreement it reached with the City to house the Schubart Park residents, has long ago lapsed. The building owners said they were unable to manage the residents.

The company accused the residents of coming and going as they pleased, and that it was not clear who was legally there as part of the initial Schubart Park group, and who had simply moved in over the years.

It has meanwhile emerged from court papers that the City ‒ as per monthly invoice from the landlord ‒ is paying the landlord about R1 700 a month in rent per person staying there.

This is despite the uncertainty of how many of the original Schubart Park group are still staying there and whether the City is subsidising unknown people.

In an affidavit filed by the City, it emerged that for example, the invoice it received from the landlord for November 2019 was for 373 people. That month alone, the metro had to fork out R634 000 as well as R22 600 for security services.

While the landlord wants to get rid of the people, the City is opposing this, saying there is a tripartite agreement in place which the landlord must honour.

Singyung Investments is disputing this and said it is unable to manage the unruly elements. The City, in its papers, said as landlord the applicant was obliged to manage the building, including access control and other identifying measures to ensure that there were no illegal occupants.

The former Schubart Park residents were relocated to, among others, the Parkview Units after the four Schubart park buildings in the CBD became uninhabitable.

The buildings were hijacked by unauthorised people and a fire broke out. As it was too dangerous for them to continue living there, the City negotiated with the Schubart Park Residents Association to temporarily relocate them.

The City has, however, over the years, not yet refurbished the damaged buildings and it is unknown what will happen with the buildings, and when, or if, the residents will be able to move back.

Hercules Bye, who represents the landlord, said in an affidavit, it has become extremely difficult to control or identify the occupants, as they fluctuated and changed on a daily basis.

He said the vandalism was costing them a lot of money, and the rent the City is paying ‒ and refusing to increase ‒ is barely covering the running costs.

According to him, the initial agreement between the landlord and the City has in any way lapsed, which renders the occupying of the building by these residents unlawful.

But Simon Sithole of the City’s legal department said there is a tripartite lease agreement in place, which the landlord must honour.

He said issues regarding access to and control of the building formed part of the agreement as the City made it clear that it is not in a position to manage the building. Thus, he said, the landlord must keep tabs on who leaves and who stays in the building.

Sithole said the City cannot be blamed for the problems at the building, as it is paying the invoices in accordance with the lease agreement. As there is an agreement in place, the landlord also cannot evict the residents, he said.

Reprinted from IOL by Zelda Venter

Simon Dippenaar & Associates Inc. is a law firm in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, offering highly specialised eviction services to landlords, property agents, and investors. Our eviction lawyers represent legal interests with uncompromising dignity. For more on how to legally evict a tenant, click here. Contact one of our Cape Town lawyers, or other partners across South Africa, by calling 086 099 5146, or 076 116 0623, or email simon@sdlaw.co.za.

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