Antenuptial Contracts – Yes or No?

When it comes to Antenuptial Contracts (“ANC’s”) in South Africa, I am of the firm view that this document may be the most important document that you will sign in your life, besides your last Will and Testament. In my practice, the most frequently asked question is  “What is an ANC and what are the
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How do I Claim Maintenance?

In South Africa is it required that both parents of a child/ren are obligated to maintain them according to their needs. Parents must attend to all the child/ren’s reasonable needs, which include, but are not limited to: housing, education, clothing, medical care etc. What will determine the child/ren’s reasonable needs will be the standard of
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Judge, Jury and Executioner? Municipalities submitting rezoning applications to themselves!

This article considers the legal question of whether a municipality can submit an application for the rezoning of land that it owns to itself, consider that application in the first instance itself, and thereafter consider an appeal in respect of that application itself. These are essentially the facts of the case currently before the Johannesburg
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JUDGMENT HANDED DOWN 29 AUGUST 2017 IN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT CHANTELLE JORDAAN AND OTHERS V CITY OF TSHWANE METRPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY AND OTHERS CASE NUMBER: CCT 283/16, 293/16 AND 294/16

Click here for TUHF’s Press Release:  URGENT NOTIFICATION FROM SCHINDLERS 31 August 2017-Jordan s 118 The applicants in this matter were various consumers of various municipalities.  They had been refused the supply of services to their properties, or had had their service supply to such properties terminated, on the basis that they refused to make
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What to do with a Tenant’s leftovers?

This article examines the practical solutions available to a landlord in the situation where a tenant vacates a property and leaves personal items behind. Vacation/Absconding and Abandonment Until such time as a tenant vacates the property voluntarily or the sheriff removes the tenant from the property in terms of an eviction order, the landlord is
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How do Section 78(5) Re-Valuations Work?

Before section 78 of the Local Government:  Municipal Property Rates Act (“MPRA”) was amended (on 1 July 2015), if a municipality wanted to re-value or re-categorise a property for rating purposes at any time other than on a general valuation roll (which only happens once every 4 to 5 years) it was legally obliged to
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How do Property Valuation Rolls work?

Every property is supposed to have a municipal valuation.  You should see a value, represented in Rands, somewhere on your municipal statement.  This is the property valuation that the municipality has ascribed to your property.  If you do not receive statements, you will have to phone the municipality and quote your account number and name,
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How to get the most out of Charitable Donations

This article explains the different types of legal entities that charitable donations can be made to and the tax consequences of those donations. The aim of this article is to educate donors in order that they can organize their tax affairs in the most tax efficient manner possible within the parameters of our law. What
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Muncipalities and Internal Remedies

This article discusses what type of “internal remedies” might apply in relation to a consumer’s dispute with the municipality about municipal debt, and how and when these internal remedies need to be exercised before approaching a court for assistance in resolving the dispute.   What are Internal Remedies? In most municipal jurisdictions, the municipality has
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Is it Illegal for a Municipality to Disconnect Water?

The South African Constitution guarantees a right of access to water (but not a right to water itself). What this means is that the South African Government (through its municipalities) is obliged to provide access of water to everyone in South Africa, where it has the financial and infrastructural capacity to do so. The Constitutional
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