Legal Articles

170 Grosvenor, Bryanston - As of Monday, 2 June 2025, our construction team officially stepped onto the site, boots on the ground, ready to bring bricks and dreams together. After months of careful planning, sales milestones, and behind-the-scenes activity, it’s finally happening. The earth is moving, and a bold new chapter is being written in the leafy suburb of Bryanston, right in the beating heart of Johannesburg.

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The proposed legislation aims to introduce changes to several existing laws that govern divorce in South Africa, starting with key revisions to the Divorce Act of 1979. These amendments are designed to align with updates made to the Mediation in Certain Divorce Matters Act of 1987, particularly in addressing how financial redistribution is handled after a decree of divorce.

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Section 67 of the Property Practitioners Act is not a guideline. It is a hard legal line. It states that no mandate may be accepted by a property practitioner unless the seller or landlord has first provided a completed and signed disclosure form. Despite this, many in the property industry continue to treat disclosure as an administrative afterthought — or worse, a courtesy that can be skipped if inconvenient.

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Spoliation is one of those legal concepts that often surfaces during disputes over possession — especially in property, residential, and commercial contexts. It deals with a very specific scenario: when someone takes the law into their own hands and unlawfully deprives another of possession of property, without going through the proper legal channels.

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The Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority (PPRA) requires that FFCs be renewed every three years by 31 October. Missing this deadline can lead to compliance issues and disrupt your operations. At VDM Attorneys, we understand how time-consuming and frustrating it can be to navigate the renewal process, from paperwork to long queues at the PPRA.

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The obligation for developers to hand over specific documents at the first general meeting is set out in the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act (STSMA) and the Prescribed Management Rules (PMRs). These rules are not optional; they exist to ensure continuity, transparency, and accountability from the outset of the scheme’s life.

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In sectional title schemes, trustees play a crucial role in overseeing the day-to-day management of the scheme on behalf of the body corporate. But what happens when those trustees fail to act in the scheme’s best interests — or worse, cause harm through mismanagement or misconduct?

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Johlene Wasserman, the driving force behind VDM Attorneys' community scheme and compliance division, worked for both the CSOS and the PPRA and understands schemes and their legal complexities. She has positioned herself at the forefront of community scheme and property practitioner compliance, protecting the interests of homeowners, tenants, and trustees alike.

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According to the city, persistent non-payment by property owners has significantly affected its ability to operate efficiently. In response, it has introduced a stricter enforcement mechanism, aimed at recovering debts before a transfer of ownership is finalised.

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In a landmark judgment handed down by the Gauteng Division of the High Court, the court made it clear that bodies corporate may not withhold a levy clearance certificate as a means of enforcing compliance with scheme rules or municipal laws — where all financial obligations to the body corporate have already been met.

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