FORCED TO PAY THE DEVELOPER’S LEVIES!
Tre Donne Homeowners Association and Another v Bergwater Plase CC (A476/14) [2016] ZAWCHC 69 (9 June 2016)
Developers in homeowners’ association developments are often, by way of special conditions in the association’s constitution, exempted from paying levies in respect of unsold properties still owned by the developer. The rationale is that the developer is usually liable for the expenses of providing services, roads and infrastructure during the development period and should not be burdened with levies in respect of its unsold erven in that period. Do the courts support such an entrenchment of developers’ rights?
The Judgment
Summary of the Judgment
DANGERS OF INFORMAL PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS
Bester N.O v Van Wyk (2845/2012) [2016] ZAECGHC 37 (26 May 2016)
For various policy considerations, the legislature made it a requirement that to alienate land or grant rights in respect thereof, the parties must do so in writing, subject to limited exceptions. The present matter dealt with an informal sale and transfer of a property by a mother to a daughter before the full purchase price was paid. After the mother’s death, the executor sought payment of the purchase price which the daughter refused, relying on the provision that an oral sale can nonetheless be valid if the purchaser performed in full. Could she succeed?
