Owning Sectional Title And Third Parties

Your home, one of your most treasured and costly possessions. Different situations can occur in which homeowners can find themselves on the brink of losing their homes with resulting devastation of the family.

If you find yourself in a situation similar to the one outlined here, or if you believe that your financial institution is taking unreasonable steps against you, then contact JA Attorneys right away to find out where you stand and how you can get help.

An article in The Star newspaper on 8 October 2014 by Brendan Roane appeared about a couple who fell prey to a reverse mortgage scam, the Brusson scheme, of an unregistered credit provider who managed to deceive 900 people into handing over ownership of their properties in exchange for a loan.

The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) representing about 100 people affected by the scheme, won a judgment in the High Court in Johannesburg to return ownership to the couple. Although the bank was not involved in the scheme, Acting Judge Mohammed Chohan found ABSA could not attach the property because the couple had not intended to transfer ownership of their property to a third party.

Brusson deceived homeowners into signing over ownership of their properties into a third party ‘investor’ to secure loans. The people who were most vulnerable and already over-indebted were targeted by Brusson. The LRC points out that the rulings after judgments were handed down, were vital for future similar cases involving the Brusson scheme and banks, which it accused of reckless lending. Brusson Finance, never a registered credit provider has since gone into liquidation.

ABSA and Nedbank respectively provided loans to fake investors. The banks argued in two cases that the homeowners should have known or foreseen of the binding consequences of the contract with Brusson.  The judges agreed in the different cases that the homeowners had no intention of selling their properties and were deceived by Brusson.

In these cases, Nedbank was ordered to pay the legal costs of the couple and the other judge ordered each party to pay its own legal costs.

JA Attorneys are specialists in sectional title and property law. Contact us today.