Added Legal Value Newspaper Volume 1 Number 1

January 2008

Here it is!

Research has indicated that clients can benefit by supplementing our website with a short bulletin on important developments. So here it is: our first electronic newsletter. You are welcome to network with us for further information on any of the topics raised. We appreciate any feed back. Also, if you prefer not to receive this mail, please e-mail us to the address on the right.

National Credit Act operates to exclude High Court!

It’s no longer a novelty. It’s a South African reality and one that is affecting our daily lives. The real influence of the act will be felt more and more as court decisions become reported.

In the case of ABSA Bank Limited versus Jean Pierre Myburgh handed down in the closing months of 2007, the Transvaal Provincial Division of the High Court held that a credit agreement should be enforced in the Magistrates’ Court and not the High Court. In that matter, the court ‹after a lengthy discussion of the effect of certain provisions of the act› refused to grant judgment in favour of the bank and ordered that the matter be transferred to the Magistrates’ Court. The bank was also refused costs of the High Court proceeding.

Court protects right to housing

In a recent case before the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, the court upheld an earlier Cape High Court decision that a warrant of execution on a house was invalid because the warrant had not been granted after an enquiry by a magistrate. Sonja Labuschagne said of the case ‹in which she was the instructing attorney› that it was far reaching as the sale in execution and further transfers were all affected. The constitutional protection for housing was underlined.

Your property, your transaction

When selling your house you should appoint your attorney because he or she protects your rights. The recent trend in contracts is to distinguish between occupation and possession. This is pre-printed in some estate agent contracts. Always make sure that it suites your situation and properly protects you against risk.

Thanks for reading. Have a good day.

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