Today; I am going to continue with the theme of Lease Agreements in this time of Lockdown. We are still at level 4. It is a tough time for both landlords and tenants. As a specialist consumer lawyer, I try, at all times, to use alternative dispute resolution procedures to resolve disputes between parties and this also applies to lease agreements. One of those tools is mediation ..read more

  Lease Agreements: Landlord versus tenant: 2020. I have received dozens of queries since the 26th March 2020 and the start of the official lockdown which relates to what the law has to say about certain aspects of Lease Agreements and the Corona Virus pandemic ..read more

 On Friday last week; I received an email which read:  “If I have bought a defective, or a previously accident damaged, vehicle; what are my consumer rights and how do I enforce them?”  This is simply a question but the answer to it; not so simple. Firstly, you have certain common law rights eg not to be sold a defective “merx” (Item). However, you also have legislation which protects you In the form of the Consumer Protection Act No 68 of 2008 (CPA) Your remedies in terms of that Act are set out in Chapter 3 ..read more

There are solutions! Commercial and Residential Lease Agreements: Cancellations: We currently find ourselves in really tough and challenging economic and financial times in South Africa. This situation will continue for the foreseeable future and one has to box clever. Business owners and entrepreneurs in retail leased spaces are finding it more and more difficult to meet their financial obligations and to service their overheads ..read more

 South Africans who use social media platforms will soon have to be much more careful and think twice before posting on social media At The Legal Advice Office; we receive enquiries from time to time about defamatory posts having been posted on various platforms and requests for assistance as to what one can do in those circumstances. Clearly, some of these posts are defamatory and the Law of Defamation can be utilised to protect one's good name and reputation. However the government authorities are also aware of this increasing trend and have promulgated the Cyber Crimes Bill; and as a res ..read more

“My wife and I are the sole shareholders  of our family business - what is our personal exposure?”  The legal liability of directors and shareholders in a Company.  In these difficult financial times and with our economy struggling a lot of private individuals and businesses are under severe financial pressure. How do you survive? A few weeks ago we did a blog of retrenchment and that was aimed at employees. Today we turn our attention to businesses and specifically companies ..read more

  PRESCRIPTION DOES APPLY IN CRIMINAL CASES, BUT WITH LIMITATIONS AND IMPORTANT EXCEPTIONS FOR SERIOUS CRIMES.  Prescription of Criminal offences:  Every so often we get a query about a previous criminal record from a client. Very often these queries relate to how they can expunge a criminal record from some time ago. However; we had an interesting inquiry last week. Essentially the question is about the prescription of criminal offences. In this blog we will try to answer this question ..read more

  Let me comment in general terms. You cannot just cancel a lease agreement. The Termination of Commercial and Residential Lease Agreements: A summary: The termination or cancellation of a commercial lease agreement/s is always a legal conundrum. One of the matters that we specialise in at The Legal Advice Office is Consumer Law and one of the two topics that we concentrate on is lease agreement cancellations and early terminations. We deal with both residential leases and commercial lease cancellations. We get many enquiries from tenants who are under considerable financial pressure i ..read more

Defective Motor Vehicles:  The choices of a repair, replacement or a refund. The Consumer Protection Act No 68 of 2008 (CPA). One of the matters that we, at The Legal Advice Office, specialise in is the topic of defective motor vehicles. We get many queries at The Legal Advice Office each week from people you want our help regarding the purchase of defective or damaged motor vehicles. This last week we got a rather cryptic inquiry: “ I have read in one of your blogs of some time back that if I were to buy a defective motor vehicle, or “ a lemon” as you referred to it as; that I have the ..read more

The answer to this question is not a simple one At The Legal Advice Office; we receive daily inquiries on a number of issues which affect the daily lives of the people around us. On Friday we received the following question and query and will answer it in this blog. “I have been divorced for some years now and have been paying maintenance to my ex-wife and my two children for a five of years; ever since our divorce was finalised in the High Court in Cape Town in 2013. My eldest son has now finished school and he wants to go to university. My ex-wife is now insisting that I must contribute t ..read more