Property
Trends:
- The stagnant South African housing market is showing signs of recovery outside of Cape Town, with predictions of a possible price boom in the offing. Ooba reported a 30% surge in home loan applications for November.
- If our interest rate is cut, property valuations should increase. But, see below!
- The SA Reit Association predicts an 8 – 9% increase in property investment returns this year.
News:
- If the first point above excites you – chill; Roode, when asked about a comparison of buying an existing property, compared to building, said that he expects only a modest drop in interest rates which, in turn, will lead to low existing house-price growth compared to the cost of building a new house. In essence, Roode says that building or buying an existing house works out to more or less the same, at present. https://iono.fm/e/1520772 (in Afrikaans).
- Roode says that it costs between R8,000 – R15,000 per m to build a new house, excluding the land cost. To buy an existing property costs between R 11 – 13,000 Rand per m.
- The Ingonyama Trust/King war was widely reported on – the dispute centred on the ITB management of the some three million ha owned by it, on behalf of the Zulu nation. The inescapable fact is that black/traditional land ownership in KZN stifles development and stymies the creation of wealth by “owners” owing to a preference for traditional leadership, which is out of step in a democratic society. My rant was precipitated by an interesting report on strong value growth in ‘traditional’ South African homesteads. The report held that there are significantly more homes valued at R1.2m or more, in the former homelands, than in the city of Cape Town. A problem, in traditional land ownership, is that the investor and the person to whom the land is allocated, is often not identical. This leads to difficulties in the transfer of wealth to others and, and loss of growth; not ideal for a country running on empty and needing investment, tax losses and a funding shortfall for rural development (because ‘traditional’ owners pay no rates). See https://iono.fm/e/1520772
- As related aside – our Concourt has ruled that traditional leaders cannot impose levies or taxes on their communities. So, if the state has to intervene, we all contribute to development within those areas, rather than those who would primarily benefit.
Legal news:
- Building a second house on your property? Read this: https://www.tcinc.co.za/OurInsights/ArticleDetail.aspx?Title=Navigating-the-legal-blueprint-for-property-expansions
- A person holding a right of extension of a sectional scheme, must contribute towards common costs/levies: https://www.dupwest.co.za/OurInsights/ArticleDetail.aspx?Title=Developers-caught-off-guard-with-sectional-title-costs
- The Property Practitioner Regulatory Authority’s refusal to issue fidelity fund certificates to non-BEE-compliant estate agencies, has precipitated a court challenge by Sakeliga. Attaboy! https://iono.fm/e/1519510 (in Afrikaans).
- There are four requirements which are needed for an owner to enforce inter se restrictive conditions in a township – see West: https://www.tech4law.co.za/business/conveyancing-in-south-africa/cancellation-of-conditions-conveyancing-update/
- Finally, the promulgation of the new Expropriation Act, has drawn howls of protest; our profession will certainly benefit from this! (Litigate, litigate, litigate!)
Practice
News:
- Lawyers misbehaving:
- Our Eastern Cape High Court Judge President was accused of sexual harassment and the JSC tribunal has not yet finalised its finding. Salacious.
- Judge Makhubele has been found guilty of gross misconduct by judicial conduct Tribunal. This finding will now be considered by the JSC.
- Advocate Gauntlett SC has been accused of sexual abuse. Surprising.
- The Prudential Authority seeks the liquidation of Ithala Bank. Dream graveyard; the wonderful thing about all this is we have not been able to run a Postbank, the Land Bank or Nsfas and now we want to tackle a R100bn BEE fund and a National Health Scheme!
- Our Department of Labour has published a new Draft Code of Good Practice on Dismissals.
- The compulsory VAT registration threshold has been upped to R1.5m.
- In similar vein to the estate agents’ BEE issues – Norton Rose Fulbright will be seeking the overturn of the Competition Minister’s BEE legal sector code. The fact is that specialist firms cannot readily comply with BEE requirements as such black specialists are rare.
Hard news:
- May the Taxing Master disallow the payment of an executor’s professional fee in addition to his standard executor fee? https://stbb.co.za/pulse-is-the-taxing-master-entitled-to-disallow-the-payment-of-an-executors-professional-fees/
Conveyancing:
- The abstract theory is not often the subject of case law, this is an exception: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPPHC/2025/6.html
- Another case on a body corporate being authorised to disconnect electricity supply by a member unless arrear electric charges are paid: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPJHC/2025/2.html
- This Western Cape High Court decision deals with the validity of a power of attorney, following on the resignation of a trustee and specifically the requirements for a valid resignation of a trustee: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2025/14.html
Comment
Parks Tau’s suggestion of bolstering transformation by levying 3% on after-tax company profits and forcing multi-national companies, which do not have black partners, to contribute up to 25% of the value of their local operations to a Transformation Fund, has stirred up howls of protest. Bluntly, the latter suggestion is probably more easily dealt with than having black partners – compensation for exploitation of the past; however, imposing this on those, who have no part in local exploitation, is probably stretching entitlement beyond what a foreigner will tolerate. Given the above comments, on our inability to run a piggybank, let alone a fund, will make it very hard for Minister Tau to pull this off. The fact is that the idea itself may well have merit, but that our mismanagement history leads us to suspect that the suggestion is merely a doubling down on means to benefit the connected and the elite, rather than the common man.
Finally, an article in, of all places, a motoring page, on our evergreen newsmaker, the RAF, produced interesting information: our fuel levy of R2.18 per litre produced R148bn income for the Fund over the 22/24 period, which makes the RAF deficit of R1.5bn pale into insignificance. What prompted this note, is that our Deputy Minister of Transport has proposed a levy on alcohol to compensate for the harm brought about by alcohol – related accidents. The difficulty with this train of thought is that it is not necessarily alcohol, which is the problem, but the conduct of its users. Excluding the claims of those inebriated, against the RAF, will inhibit drivers considerably more than adding to the cost of beer.
Lighten up
There’s a big conference of beer producers. At the end of the day, the presidents of all beer companies decide to have a drink in a bar. The president of ‘Budweiser’ orders a Bud, the president of ‘Miller’ orders a Miller Lite, Adolph Coors orders a Coors, and the list goes on. Then the waitress asks Arthur Guinness what he wants to drink, and much to everybody’s amazement, Mr. Guinness orders a Coke!
“Why don’t you order a Guinness?” his colleagues ask.
“Naah. If you guys won’t drink beer, then neither will I.”