| br!ghtshark |

Q =

 

“

 

Dear Sharq

 

 

I am staying in a rented house in Cape Town now for 1,5yrs. I have a lease agreement which expires end of Sept ‘08.

 

 

 

I am presently unemployed (been so for a month) , I am looking for work but as yet nothing! This is the first month I have not been able to pay the rent. I phoned my landlord and told him I can pay for 2 months rental at the end of April.

 

 

I am receiving a substantial amount end of April from previous employer. He has refused this option and said that if I haven’t paid by 7th April then I must vacate premises. I did give a deposit when I moved in… Do I forfeit this deposit now?

 

Please help me… What do I do now?

 

My fiance (also unemployed) and my 2 small dogs stay with me. I don’t have the finances or anybody that can help us right now so what do I do?

 

Where do I go with a house full of furniture and my doggies which are like my children.

 

I do not want any unpleasantness but when the 7th April arrives and I have not moved out what are the legal implications for us and does my landlord have the right to have me physically removed from property.

 

PLEASE HELP ME WITH ADVICE

 

Kind regards

 

H####

 

“

 

Pointer =

 

First of all, I would check the least agreement – what does it say about breach? I am going from the premise that the agreement is quite standard, but you’ll have to read the agreement to see what your specific agreement says. Most lease agreements says that, in the event of a breach (ie, you not paying your rent), the landlord would first have to give you written notice to rectify the breach. Most lease agreements that I worked with said that he had to give you 7 days from his written notice to rectify the breach.

 

Thus, as a first step, I would wait for him to give you the breach letter. This can take a week or two (depends on how eager he or the agent is), which will buy you more time.

 

After you fail to rectify the breach, the landlord has an option (called election in legalese) which he has to exercise: he can either decide to cancel our lease agreement, or, enforce your lease agreement. Mostly this must also be conveyed to you in writing (again, check the lease agreement itself).

 

So, let’s say he elects to cancel the lease agreement (the most obvious and common choice)… Now the landlord would have to start two legal proceedings against you; the one being for collection of the outstanding rent (a normal civil claim for monies due and owing) and then, the second case (under an entirely different case number) would be to evict you in terms of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act (see my previous post on this act and how it works, here).

 

The bottom line is, the landlord cannot just put you out on the street – he would have to follow due process (if he doesn’t, and pitches up to take care of business himself, I would say to phone the cops immediately, since what he is doing is illegal). Even then, after having followed due process, he cannot evict you, but the Sheriff of the Court must attend to it. The whole process to get somebody evicted does take between 4-8 weeks, so all-in-all you should have enough time to salvage the situation. I would recommend however that you sort this out with the landlord since you will be held liable for the legal fees of all of these actions – something I am sure you wish to avoid. Also, a bad relationship with your landlord can make life very difficult for you (when that tap leaks or the electrics go hay-wire) and is best avoided.

 

Good luck!