2013 Newsflash!

1. CONGRATULATIONS!!

Big congratulations to Meyer De Waal on securing a weekly slot on the VOICE OF THE CAPE RADIO STATION.

Listen to Meyer de Waal on Voice of the Cape Radio Station every Tuesday night from 18h00 – 19h00 during the Legal Hour, during which various legal topics are being discussed.

Meyer De Waal has also recently made a valued contribution to the REAL ESTATE INVESTORS MAGAZINE – February issue.  Read these articles, “Do a due diligence on a property before you buy it” and his cover leading contribution “Don’t get hoodwinked”, online by <clicking here>.

Also read the new edition of Real Estate Magazine that will be out soon with a follow-up article.

2. LONG TERM RENTAL ADMINISTRATION

Please be advised that our firm provides a professional administration service, whereby we assist with the administration of LONG term rentals.  We know very well what a nightmare the management of a single or, even worse, multiple properties can be for any Landlord.  Therefore, we would like to extend a kind hand by offering to assist you in the management on a hands-on basis.

Please contact Heila at heila@oostco.co.za or on 021 461 0065 for more information in this regard.

3. BUDGET-WISE

Affordability remains one of the biggest hurdles when trying to raise a home loan.

• Find out if you can save thousands of rands on your debt repayment to improve your purchase power and affordability in order to purchase your own home.

• Complete a FREE SURVEY to determine your current debt profile as you may need this to plan your way forward in order to get out of debt.

Contact us be sending your email to save@budgetfitness.co.za.

 

Selling your house? Remember your electric fence compliance certificate!

In terms of the Electrical Machinery Regulations 2011, an additional compliance certificate is needed to effect transfer of immovable property if an electric fence system is installed on the property to be sold. This certificate provides proof that the installed electric fence system complies with the legal requirements for such as system.  Dawid Badenhorst takes a closer look into some of the most common aspects to keep in mind regarding this new requirement.

 What constitutes an ‘electric fence system’?

An electric fence system is any electrified barrier consisting of one or more bare conductors erected to prevent the trespass of persons or animals, which system delivers a non-lethal charge of electrical energy to an electric fence.

In the event that an electric fence system has been erected on property to be sold, the new regulations must be complied with in order to ensure that the property can be transferred. An important date to remember is 1 December 2012 as any property that is sold, or otherwise changes ownership after this date, and which has an electric fence system, will require an electric fence system compliance certificate. This will include any property that was sold before 1 December 2012, but which has not yet been registered in the name of the purchaser.

This certificate is in addition to the familiar electrical compliance certificate and may only be issued by a registered person who is in possession of a Certificate of Competence.

Key points in complying with the regulations.

The following key points should assist you in complying with the new regulations:

• Every user or lessor of an electric fence system must be in possession of a compliance certificate.
• The certificate can only be issued by a registered electric fence system installer, who is registered with the Department of Labour and in possession of a Certificate of Competence. Any maintenance or repair to an electric fence system may also only be done by such a registered installer.
• The compliance certificate is transferrable from a seller to a purchaser and therefore a new certificate is not required for each consequent transfer of the property, unless of course, an addition or alteration has been effected to the electric fence system since the issue of the compliance certificate.
• Although the regulations do not specify that the current user or lessor (owner or seller) is responsible for obtaining the certificate, it may be inferred that the seller will be the one who must obtain (and pay for) such a certificate as the certificate is transferrable. Parties to an agreement of sale may agree that the purchaser is responsible for obtaining the certificate, although this would not be in line with standard practices for electrical and/or gas compliance certificates.
• When signing a deed of sale or a lease agreement, request your attorney to advise you whether an appropriate clause is incorporated in the contract if there is an electric fence on the property.
• If you are installing an electric fence for the first time or upgrading or altering your existing fence, make sure that your installer is a registered installer and remember to ask for your certificate of compliance following the installation or alteration.
• Lastly, be aware that this implies no more ‘DIY’ electric fence projects.

For further information on electric fence compliance certificates and the effect thereof on your current or future transfer, please contact Mark Witzmann at mark@oostco.co.za or on 021 461 0065.

 

Call to action!

In our experience, it is vital to regularly conduct an exercise whereby you ask yourself the following questions, inter alia, so as to establish whether or not your affairs are still up to date and in order.

It is, of course, important to act on the issues that emanate from such an exercise.

We have found that not many people go through the motions of asking themselves these simple, yet significant questions.

Here are a few of our suggested questions that should be revisited on a regular basis:

ESTATE & ESTATE PLANNING:

1. Are your affairs in order if you should die tomorrow?
2. When last did you revise your will?
3. Who is nominated as the executor/s in your will?
4. Will the administration of your estate be in the hands of strangers who have no or little contact and sympathy with your heirs?
5. Consider to appoint your surviving spouse or family member as the executor of your estate.
6. Are you aware that the majority age is now 18 (it used to be 21)?
7. If your minor children or grandchildren are to inherit, do you have a trust to manage their inheritance?
8. Are you aware of the “roll-over” effect resulting in a R7 million rebate for estate duty purposes?
9. Have you incorporated the said rebate into your estate planning?

TRUSTS:

If you already have a trust:

1. Do you hold regular trustees meetings?
2. Do you record these meetings?
3. Have you appointed an independent trustee?
4. Do you pass and sign resolutions for decisions made by the Trustees?
5. Are all the Trustees still alive?
6. Have you appointed a successor trustee in your will?
7. Did the trustees make provision who will be the beneficiaries to receive the trust benefit after your death as primary beneficiary?

Please contact Meyer De Waal on meyer@oostco.co.za or Samantha Thornhill on Samantha@oostco.co.za for more information of advice on the abovementioned matters.  We will gladly assist you in doing this exercise and getting your affairs in order going forward!

 

Parties to a transaction – do your research.

Are you as a Seller (or as an estate agent on behalf of your seller client) aware of whom you are dealing with as the Purchaser? Do you simply take and accept the Purchaser at face value? This could be perilous if you do not investigate properly the status and identity of the Purchaser who is attempting to buy your most valuable asset. What should you as the seller or you as the estate agent look out for prior to writing up an offer?

NATURAL PERSON

When dealing with a natural person establish the marital status of the party signing. If the party is married in community of property, BOTH the spouses must sign the deed of sale.  If both spouses are not available at that moment, one should provide a separate consent to the contracting party.

Should the Purchaser wish to make his offer subject to the sale of his/her property, it is essential to confirm that he is indeed the owner of his property by performing a Deeds Office search. Estate agents who do not have access to the Deeds Office printouts can still perform these searches on various other property programs e.g. CMA Info.

COMPANIES AND CLOSE CORPORATIONS

There are two issues that must be verified by a Private Seller (or Estate Agent who is appointed by the Seller):

1. Is the purchasing CC/Company still active as per the records of the Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC)?  A report drawn from the CIPC’s website will aid you in establishing whether the CC/Company is still active to trade. If annual returns are not submitted for a specific period, CC’s and Companies can be deregistered, which means that they cannot enter in a contract until such time as they have been re-instated. This could have dire consequences for a seller who believes he is entering into a legal and binding agreement.  Also, the re-instatement of an entity takes approximately 6 -8 weeks, which may in turn affect the transaction.

A CC/Company can also be deregistered by the court and an application may have to be lodged in the courts to have the company re-instated.  It is therefore imperative that full CC/Company screening is done on the purchasing entity.

2. Is the CC/Company representative duly authorised?  This is also very important as there may be more than one Director of a company or member of a close corporation. It is therefore prudent to pass a resolution, signed by all the directors of a company, or all the members of a CC authorising the transaction and specifying a representative to sign specified documentation.  A CIPC search will indicate not only the status of the CC/Company but who all the directors/members are.

TRUSTS

Then faced with an offer from a purchasing trust, a Seller and Agent must establish whether the Trust is registered at the Master’s Office. Trusts are allocated with distinctive registration numbers (like companies and close corporations) and the Seller must insist to see this number which must be inserted on the offer as proof of identification.  The trust deed must be perused to identify the Trustees and to determine whether they have the authority to transact (example, buy, sell and or mortgage property).

Sellers should insist on receiving a resolution passed by all the Trustees and authorising the said purchase and also authorising the duly appointed representative (normally the main trustee) to sign the deed of sale on behalf of the Trust.  It can quite easily occur that this is omitted and when it comes to signing transfer documents at the attorney’s office the remaining trustees refuse to sign on the basis that they never authorised the transaction and are opposed to it.

We trust that the above information will be beneficial to both Sellers and Estate Agents and that, by employing these simple measures, a Seller can be assured that his/her  most valuable asset is sold properly and in accordance with sound legal principles.

Please do not hesitate to contact Mark Witzmann at mark@oostco.co.za or on 021 461 0065 for further information or advice on this topic.