Property Law Update

Issue 1 - 2012

20 January 2012

LIABILITY FLOWS FROM PROMISES – BEWARE THOSE BROCHURES

Guthrie and Another v Etango Game Lodge (Pty) Ltd and Another (66601/2010) [2011] ZAGPPHC 214 (9 December 2011)

This is an interesting judgment where a developer was held contractually bound to promises made to purchasers in a brochure that accompanied a sale. It is a wake-up call to ensure that the content of advertising brochures corresponds to that which a purchaser will receive after the agreement is concluded.

FENCE ON WRONG BOUNDARY: RISK OF ACQUISITIVE PRESCRIPTION

Morgenster 1711 (Pty) Ltd v De Kock NO and Others (12743/09) [2011] ZAWCHC 445 (5 December 2011)

Whether because of an informal arrangement between owners or for topographical reasons, fences between properties are sometimes erected so as not to follow the real boundary between the properties. This is inherently dangerous because in years to follow and the passing of the properties to consecutive owners, the original arrangement is likely to be forgotten and claims for acquisitive prescription may arise. This case, dealing with the well-known vineyard Morgenster, is a case in point.

OWNERS/DEVELOPERS & ILLEGAL OCCUPIERS: THE POOR RANK FIRST

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality v Blue Moonlight Properties 39 (Pty) Ltd and Another (CCT 37/11) [2011] ZACC 33 (1 December 2011)

In this matter the Constitutional Court held that the state, including municipalities, must provide shelter to those desperate persons who are evicted from private land. This means that the needy should not be dispossessed of occupation unless the state acts on its obligations to provide housing. As such, a private landowner’s interest in developing a property necessarily takes second place until the state has achieved this result, especially where the landowner was aware of the situation when he acquired the property.

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