1. Squatter rights for tenants? 2. Another successful year 3. IEA Western Cape - Directors for 2002-03



1. Squatter rights for tenants? THOSE of us who are letting agents or property managers are probably still reeling from the Appeal Court's recent surprising ruling that tenants who default on paying the rent are now entitled to the same legal protection as squatters. Evidently, in this respect, there is now no difference between "Cardboard City" and Constantia. It has been the law for several years that a landlord must obtain a court order in order to evict a defaulter. Now, in terms of the Appeal Court ruling (as reported in the press), the application for the court order must comply with the Prevention of Illegal Eviction From and Unlawful Occupation Of Land Act 1998. Here for the benefit of our members and their landlord clients, are the salient points of that Act: • 14 days before the date set down for the hearing, the court must notify both the defaulter and the local municipality of the application, and advise the defaulter that he's entitled to defend himself and can obtain legal aid if necessary • the court must decide if eviction would be "just and equitable" and must consider how it would affect any elderly or disabled people, any children, and any households headed by women that may be concerned • if the defaulter has occupied the premises for longer than six months, the court must also consider whether the municipality or someone else can provide alternative accommodation • if the defaulter fails to put up an adequate defence, and the landlord's application is "just and equitable", then the court must grant the order. How long will this take? That seems to depend on how busy the court is, and how strongly the tenant defends the application. If the landlord wants an urgent hearing, he will have to satisfy the court that (a) "substantial" injury or damage to property might otherwise result, (b) that the hardship he (the landlord) is suffering is greater than the defaulter's, and (c) that there is no other remedy. Clearly this is something that is going to develop in the weeks and months to come, and we're encouraged by the news that the Ministry of Housing may challenge the judgment in the interests of the housing market. We'll keep our members and readers posted. 2. Another successful year WE held our 65th annual general meeting at Kelvin Grove on 5 September. "As usual, I am upbeat," said chairman Bill Rawson in his annual report. "I'm pleased to report that our regional membership showed a net increase of 210 during the year and that we remain the strongest of the eight regions in our Institute. Our total membership is now 1627, which is good, but it is by no means all the registered estate agents in our region. However I believe that it includes the majority of the active estate agents in our area." Rawson emphasised that the Institute's core business is training. "During the year," he said, "we held 14 courses and 21 seminars, which were attended by a total of 2137 people. The three most popular courses were: Estate Agency Affairs Board exam, property sales, and property development. The most popular events were: our website launches, CGT seminars, and a stress management seminar." Finances are healthy, though we remain dependent on sponsorship in order to stay afloat. In concluding, Rawson said: "The members who accept office as directors for the coming year will, in my opinion, need to possess strong leadership skills, vision, purpose and creativity, and lots of available time, and they should be willing to place them all at the Institute's disposal without financial reward. "We urgently need to increase our membership, and while existing recruitment methods clearly work, they do not produce results on the scale that we need. Fresh ideas - especially regarding transformation - and committed leadership and management, are needed, both regionally and nationally." Rawson thanked everyone who contributed to the Institute of Estate Agents (Western Cape) during the past year: vice-president Anne Porter, directors, management and administrative staff, members, and external sponsors. A highlight of the evening was the presentation of awards. Industry veteran Mark Marks received the Geoffrey Seeff Memorial Award for his years of service to the Institute, and retired IEA member John Hermann, whose father was the IEA's first national president, received honorary life membership. With the formalities out of the way, we celebrated our birthday in style, and Elvis came by in his pink Cadillac to entertain us for a while. Afterwards, we donated the birthday cake and the balloons to the Red Cross Children's Hospital. 3. IEA Western Cape - Directors for 2002-03 Achmat Abrahams Sanjeev Boyjoonauth Errol King Joy MacNab Mark Marks Carr Newton John Nurse Penny Petersen Anne Porter Bill Rawson Iona Scholtz Kevin Wynne