Legal Articles

When purchasing property in South Africa, various legal professionals play distinct roles in ensuring that the transaction is compliant, secure, and properly registered. Two of the most crucial players in this process are bond attorneys and transfer attorneys. While their work overlaps in timeline and coordination, their mandates, appointment processes, and responsibilities differ significantly. 

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For a will to be effective, it needs to be legally valid, clearly worded, and administratively workable. Many individuals mistakenly believe that because they’ve put their wishes in writing, those wishes will automatically be fulfilled. In reality, poorly structured or incomplete wills often create confusion, delay, and even legal disputes during the administration of the estate.

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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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