Springer-Nel Attorneys Notaries & Conveyancers – LawDotNews
- September 2026 | Do You Really Need 6 Types of Will? September 1, 2026At the heart of your estate planning is your will (“Last Will and Testament”). Without it, you lose your right to choose your heirs, to choose the executor of your estate, and to choose who will look after your children and your family trusts when you die. But there’s lots of online chatter about other […]
- August 2026 | Cancelled Sale, Damaged Property. Who Pays? August 1, 2026When a sale falls through, most people assume restitution means simply giving back the money and the property. A recent High Court decision shows it is rarely that straightforward, particularly if the property itself has changed in the interim. The ruling explains how restoration costs should be worked out, and why the condition of the […]
- July 2026 | One Bad Letter and Your Eviction Falls Apart Juli 1, 2026A tenant may be in clear breach of a lease, but that does not guarantee a successful eviction. A recent High Court judgment shows how an unclear cancellation notice and a failure to follow the correct legal process can derail an otherwise strong case, leaving landlords with an expensive lesson in the importance of getting […]
- June 2026 | Dodgy Deck: When a Property Defect is Your Problem, Not the Seller's Juni 1, 2026A deck collapsed seven months after transfer. The buyers, convinced they’d been sold a raw prawn, headed to the courts. Eight claims and twelve years later, they haven’t recouped a cent. A 2026 Western Cape High Court judgment draws a sharp line between what the law protects buyers against and what it does not.We all […]
- May 2026 | Bodies Corporate and HOAs: Apply Your Rules With Common Sense, or Else Mai 1, 2026The administrators of residential complexes tread a fine line. They must implement and enforce conduct rules for the good of the complex as a whole, but without unjustly impinging on the constitutional rights of individuals. A recent Supreme Court of Appeal decision, granting a sight-impaired owner a limited right to exclusive use of a section […]
- April 2026 | Buying a House: What Costs Will You Pay, and When? April 1, 2026It’s a really exciting time, buying a house, particularly if it’s your first! Don’t forget, however, that you will have to pay a variety of costs over and above the purchase price. What are those costs and when must you pay them? Do they impact your ability to afford the house you have your eye […]
- March 2026 | Budget 2026: How Much Will the Increased CGT Primary Residence Exclusion Save You? März 1, 2026Phew! No major tax increases are planned, and taxpayers will benefit from zero “bracket creep” across a range of taxes. While property sellers and buyers will be disappointed that transfer duty thresholds have not increased, there’s reason to get very excited about the 50% increase in the primary residence CGT exclusion from R2m to R3m. […]
- February 2026 | Love and the Law: Cohabiting? Get Your House in Order Now Februar 1, 2026Valentine’s Day isn’t just a great excuse to indulge in ruinously expensive red roses, cards and heart-shaped chocolates. It’s also a reminder that if you’re in a cohabitation arrangement, there will be financial implications – making it essential to check that your relationship’s legal aspects pass muster. Particularly when you start acquiring high-value assets jointly, […]
- January 2026 | Your Top 10 (Legal) New Year’s Resolutions for 2026 Januar 1, 2026As 2026 dawns with all its exciting new possibilities and opportunities, let’s not forget about all the annoying – but vital – legal aspects of our lives. They’re easily overlooked in the rush of another hectic back-to-work, back-to-school, and back-to-everything-else Janu-worry, so we’ve put together a list of ten ideas to help you prioritise what’s […]
- December 2025 | Can You Airbnb Your House or Apartment in a Residential Complex? Dezember 1, 2025Particularly over the holiday season, many house and apartment owners in residential complexes will want to let out their units on a short-term letting / Airbnb basis. It goes without saying that other owners and residents may object. A high turnover of tenants can prejudice the complex’s security, traffic, noise levels and the like. That […]
- November 2025 | Selling Your House This Summer? Get Your Ducks in a Row With This Checklist November 1, 2025Summer has always been a prime time to buy and sell property in South Africa. Everyone’s spirits lift with the blue-sky weather, the festive season beckons, and holiday travel booms. If you’re planning to take advantage of this seasonal upswing by selling now, get your ducks in a row with our Seller’s Checklist – a […]
- October 2025 | The Transfer Process in a Nutshell Oktober 1, 2025Spring is a great time to address two questions which sellers and buyers often ask: how does the transfer process actually work, and how long does it usually take? Have a look at our “Transfer Process in a Nutshell” flowchart for an outline of the major steps in the process, all the way from signing […]
- September 2025 | Excuses, Excuses: Why People Don’t Make Wills, And Why You Must September 1, 2025We all must die, no exceptions. So, it’s amazing that so few of us actually protect our loved ones with wills. Perhaps the problem is that the siren call of procrastination sounds so clearly and seductively when it comes to delaying that evil day when we have to actually sit down, consider our mortality, and […]
- August 2025 | Your House Burns to the Ground: Can You Hold the Seller Liable? August 1, 2025Time and again our courts are faced with property sellers who, when sued by buyers for hidden defects, try to hide behind a voetstoots clause in the sale agreement. They say, “The buyer bought the house ‘as is’ and can’t complain now”. But that can never protect a seller who has fraudulently concealed a defect. […]
- July 2025 | A Bond Clause Deadline Whooshes by and a Sale Dies – Can You Revive it? Juli 1, 2025It’s easy to lose sight of deadlines in all the excitement of a home sale, but the consequences of letting a deadline expire can be dire. A recent Supreme Court of Appeal fight resulted from the buyer not getting a bond before the deadline expired. At the time, both buyer and seller wanted the sale […]
- June 2025 | A R4.25m Warning to Choose Your Conveyancer With Care Juni 1, 2025Would you believe that South Africa has been identified as the world’s most affordable country in which to buy a home? It’s an average price vs average income calculation and is great news for local sellers and buyers alike. Having said that, sellers need to be really careful when choosing a conveyancer to look after […]
- May 2025 | When Does a Property Defect Justify Cancellation? A Costly Case of Buyer’s Remorse Mai 1, 2025“Buyer’s remorse” is a well-known phenomenon that’s led many a property buyer to cast around desperately for a means, any means, to escape the sale they’ve just tied themselves into. Be careful here – cancelling a sale without sound legal grounds will be a very costly mistake. To illustrate, we discuss a recent High Court […]
- April 2025 | Budget 2.0: A Mixed Bag, With Good News for Property April 1, 2025There’s good news for property buyers and sellers, and a mixed bag for taxpayers generally in Budget 2025. The transfer duty threshold adjustment is good for property sales, but government’s attempt to increase VAT and its failure to adjust individual tax brackets will hurt us all – taxpayers and consumers alike. To see how it […]
- March 2025 | Mortgage Bond Arrears: Can You Challenge a Certificate of Balance? März 1, 2025A recent High Court ruling tackled the important question of whether or not a Certificate of Balance issued by a creditor provides definitive proof of the debt owed. The case involved a couple who contested the accuracy of a bank’s R2.1m claim against them. At stake? Two of their properties which were bonded to the […]
- February 2025 | A Complex Issue: Beware Late Building Penalties Februar 1, 2025You buy a vacant plot in a security estate and happily start drawing up plans for your dream home. Disaster strikes when out of the blue you are hit by the HOA (Homeowners’ Association) with triple levies – WHAT?! Turns out the previous owner was in trouble for not building on the plot by the set […]