Maryna holds the BA, LLB, LLM degrees and is an Executive Consultant at the Cape Town branch of STBB. She is an admitted Attorney, Notary Public, Conveyancer and Insolvency Practitioner with many years of experience in the fields of property law, conveyancing and the laws relating to corporate compliance (especially in respect of the FICA and POPIA laws). Up until 2018 she was also head of the firm’s national marketing portfolio. She is a seasoned public speaker and presenter, both in person and online. She prepares text for the majority of STBB’s internal and external publications and is editor and co-writer for two pivotal publications in the South African real estate industry – the ABC of Conveyancing (JUTA) and Delport’s South African Property Law and Practice (JUTA).

Thought of the Week | The right of first refusal

A simple assumption unleashes unintended chaos

A right of first refusal is an ancillary or collateral agreement whereby one person binds himself to give preference to another person should he or she decide to sell his property.

Most of us have encountered sale or lease agreements with a right of first refusal. These clauses often come in harmless language such as –

The tenant shall have a right of first refusal to purchase the premises when the lessor intends to sell. The purchase price shall be negotiated when the lessor expresses such an intention.

This was the clause, almost verbatim from the recent case of Mokone v Tassos Properties CC 2017 CC. However, rather than being a simple and standard term of the lease agreement, the parties were embroiled in litigation all the way to the Constitutional Court with the tenant attacking the subsequent transfer of the property by the landlord to a third party. Read more here.

For the best legal advice and personalised service, let's talk
Subscribe to our monthly newsletters, subscribe