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Starting to think I need an attorney, but where to start?

shifttymike

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So I'll try and keep this brief (not something I'm great at). Let's try 4chan 3rd person bullet point style:

- OP finds a house he likes, decides to buy
- Offer signed by both parties 16 Aug 2021
- Bond secured, investment liquidated and deposit & transfer fees paid by 6 Sept 2021. OP is an eager beaver
- Electrical CoC gets done and water leak fixed. Some concern initially as CoC issued without work being done but this gets resolved and new CoC presented
- House was tenanted, tenant finds new place and leaves end Nov 2021. By this point bond attorneys have been waiting to lodge since early Nov, electrical CoC is done
- Electric fence hasn't been used in years. Wires are broken, tensioners are broken, completely overgrown, energiser _might_ work but hasn't been on in years and is installed in wooden bedroom cupboard which is illegal. Won't be cheap to fix
- Now it's December. Waiting for electric fence CoC. Crickets. Agent gets someone in to quote, never heard whether they received a quote from the contractor
- January. 4 months since everything confirmed from my side. Rates figures sorted, only outstanding issue is electric fence CoC. No updates from seller. Seller's attorney says it may well be for OP's account which is straight up incorrect
- Further complicated by fact that estate agent went overseas for holiday, and seller's attorney is not a conveyancing attorney and gave the work to another firm (and took a cut I guess). Probably why he thinks OP must pay for electric fence
- OP acknowledges to conveyancing attorney that rates figures are sorted, asks about electric fence CoC, defers to seller's attorney. No response
- OP has to move on 22 Jan 2022 because of lease in current apartment

My main concerns are that
- The seller will just drag his heels and collect occupational rent. Not ideal because I'm not paying back my debt and can't make changes to the house, plus it's not exactly a favourable figure
- The seller will push on with the transfer without the electric fence CoC. Can be done if declared that no electric fence is present

Should I be getting legal counsel at this point? Or should I just wait it out? It's effectively costing me money to pay occupational rent instead of servicing my bond and there's no reason it should have taken this long in the first place. I also don't want him to pull a sneaky. Literally no idea where to start with finding an attorney, if that's even a reasonable course of action at this stage.
If I even knew what kind of attorney to speak to, I'd consider paying for 30 minutes to just see whether I have a case and what my options are. Is Legalwise a good option for things like this? Seems like they only have a retainer model, not one-off per-minute billing or whatever.

Seems clear that seller is just dragging his heels, he's had since September to fix this. Also possible he wasn't properly informed of his responsibilities, but that's not really between me and him - he's been in CC on all the mails so if he didn't know before, he certainly knows now.

What do?
 
OP also has a fresh baby (well, it was fresh in August) and hasn't been sleeping as well as he'd like so he might be a bit grumpy. But there's genuine concern about the deal going through to a point where the only option is to sue. OP wants to nip this in the bud while there's still some leverage (i.e. seller doesn't have his money)
 
So I'll try and keep this brief (not something I'm great at). Let's try 4chan 3rd person bullet point style:

- OP finds a house he likes, decides to buy
- Offer signed by both parties 16 Aug 2021
- Bond secured, investment liquidated and deposit & transfer fees paid by 6 Sept 2021. OP is an eager beaver
- Electrical CoC gets done and water leak fixed. Some concern initially as CoC issued without work being done but this gets resolved and new CoC presented
- House was tenanted, tenant finds new place and leaves end Nov 2021. By this point bond attorneys have been waiting to lodge since early Nov, electrical CoC is done
- Electric fence hasn't been used in years. Wires are broken, tensioners are broken, completely overgrown, energiser _might_ work but hasn't been on in years and is installed in wooden bedroom cupboard which is illegal. Won't be cheap to fix
- Now it's December. Waiting for electric fence CoC. Crickets. Agent gets someone in to quote, never heard whether they received a quote from the contractor
- January. 4 months since everything confirmed from my side. Rates figures sorted, only outstanding issue is electric fence CoC. No updates from seller. Seller's attorney says it may well be for OP's account which is straight up incorrect
- Further complicated by fact that estate agent went overseas for holiday, and seller's attorney is not a conveyancing attorney and gave the work to another firm (and took a cut I guess). Probably why he thinks OP must pay for electric fence
- OP acknowledges to conveyancing attorney that rates figures are sorted, asks about electric fence CoC, defers to seller's attorney. No response
- OP has to move on 22 Jan 2022 because of lease in current apartment

My main concerns are that
- The seller will just drag his heels and collect occupational rent. Not ideal because I'm not paying back my debt and can't make changes to the house, plus it's not exactly a favourable figure
- The seller will push on with the transfer without the electric fence CoC. Can be done if declared that no electric fence is present

Should I be getting legal counsel at this point? Or should I just wait it out? It's effectively costing me money to pay occupational rent instead of servicing my bond and there's no reason it should have taken this long in the first place. I also don't want him to pull a sneaky. Literally no idea where to start with finding an attorney, if that's even a reasonable course of action at this stage.
If I even knew what kind of attorney to speak to, I'd consider paying for 30 minutes to just see whether I have a case and what my options are. Is Legalwise a good option for things like this? Seems like they only have a retainer model, not one-off per-minute billing or whatever.

Seems clear that seller is just dragging his heels, he's had since September to fix this. Also possible he wasn't properly informed of his responsibilities, but that's not really between me and him - he's been in CC on all the mails so if he didn't know before, he certainly knows now.

What do?

Refer to a lawyer, but also check your sale agreement as it should have a clause about delays and breach of contract, these typically have monetary compensation attached. But otherwise unfortunately you will need to rent somewhere in the meantime if you have sold, favourable breach clauses cover for this expense.
 
Always get a lawyer. That's just good life advice in general
 
My main concerns are that
- The seller will just drag his heels and collect occupational rent. Not ideal because I'm not paying back my debt and can't make changes to the house, plus it's not exactly a favourable figure
- The seller will push on with the transfer without the electric fence CoC. Can be done if declared that no electric fence is present
Yep. I think you hit the nail on the head there.
You would have to remove the energiser for it not to be an electrical fence. If the energiser is just plugged into a socket, this is easy, but if this is installed, as a fixed appliance, you need to have an electrical CoC again.

Occupational rent is a problem. I have had two friends screwed by this. For future reference, what I did is was I raised the occupational rent for the first two months, but then reduced it by 25% for every month thereafter. Giving them an incentive to do it quick. It was a deceased estate. They claimed it would be done in three months, took them 18 months. I was living for free after six months.

Also, typical contracts have some time stipulations in them.

Also, you have a lawyer. Who is footing the transfer bill? You are. Therefore they are in your employ. Get them on the phone and talk to them.
 
Yeah, sounds like lawyer time.

A breach of contract doesn't have to end in cancellation so there is scope for enforcing specific performance under the contract (the sale agreement as long as it complies with the formalities of the Alienation of Land Act) but also claiming damages. The agreement itself may have specific terms related to obligations under the agreement so useful to clarify who is responsible for what as this also would clarify who is responsible for any delay in performance.

Regarding the fence, as you know its a prerequisite of transfer that the certificates are obtained. To push for transfer without a certificate for the fence on the basis that there is no electrical fence is potentially fraudulent (I guess they'd argue its simply the remnants of one that doesn't function so technically isn't one) but also brings into question what was represented to you with regard to what fixtures existed on the property at the time you agreed to purchase it as an EF is not a cheap thing and would also impact things like insurance. Anyway, I think at this stage thats conjecture so better to have someone look to the agreement and conduct of the parties.

Many firms could assist, Smith Tabata for example are a large firm with a property department ( STBB ) ( CONTACT ) and you could request an indication of consulting rates from them.
 
Yep. I think you hit the nail on the head there.
You would have to remove the energiser for it not to be an electrical fence. If the energiser is just plugged into a socket, this is easy, but if this is installed, as a fixed appliance, you need to have an electrical CoC again.
Here lies the essence of the matter.

If the energiser is directly wired into the premises wiring (distribution board) then it is included in the CoC. The electrician could simply disconnect it, thus rendering the premises safe, and issue a CoC. From first post, the electric fence is visibly not functional, which renders it a patent defect, and unless the offer to purchase specifically requires it to be functional, it is covered by the "AS IS" clause...
(I ran into this with a swimming pool that was leaking... since it was visibly not full, and I didn't specify it to be in good order in the offer...)

Also, do get a lawyer. The transfer attorneys have an obligation to not act against your best interest, but they will not act to resolve this matter. The contract is signed, so they are obligated to proceed as soon as the written contract's stipulations are met.
 
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Sjoe. Thanks for all the input, a fair bit to digest here. A few points:
- The electrical CoC is separate from the electric fence CoC. The electrical CoC was done without issue, we seem to be stalled on the electric fence specifically
- There's no performance clause for the seller in the contract. Probably because the seller is usually motivated by big buckets of money. The contract is very minimal and only contains a section for "default of purchaser" and nothing about the seller
- The electric fence isn't explicitly mentioned anywhere on the property listing or sale agreement
- There's no disclosure form

The fence wasn't visibly not working at first glance, although the estate agent mentioned it wasn't working (verbally) and said something along the lines of:
"The property includes everything you see here, voetstoets. However everything that is included should be fit for purpose, i.e. functional"
He said the alarm would be fixed as well (which as it turns out literally just means plugging it in, but nobody has bothered to do that). I'm choosing my battles, I'll fix the alarm myself but the fence is a moer of an expense and I'm willing to fight tooth and nail to pressure the seller to get it sorted.

Refer to a lawyer, but also check your sale agreement as it should have a clause about delays and breach of contract, these typically have monetary compensation attached. But otherwise unfortunately you will need to rent somewhere in the meantime if you have sold, favourable breach clauses cover for this expense.
Ja, nothing in the contract unfortunately. Looks like I'm the only one who could possibly default. Lesson for next time, I guess. Don't sign a sale agreement without a performance clause for the seller.

Always get a lawyer. That's just good life advice in general
That's part of what I was hoping to figure out with this thread. In principle, I agree, but in practice I wouldn't know where to start.

Yeah, sounds like lawyer time.

A breach of contract doesn't have to end in cancellation so there is scope for enforcing specific performance under the contract (the sale agreement as long as it complies with the formalities of the Alienation of Land Act) but also claiming damages. The agreement itself may have specific terms related to obligations under the agreement so useful to clarify who is responsible for what as this also would clarify who is responsible for any delay in performance.
Given that the contract is so non-specific, I guess this is what I was hoping to accomplish with the lawyer - fighting the case on its own merits as the contract doesn't actually make any comment about seller non-performance.

Regarding the fence, as you know its a prerequisite of transfer that the certificates are obtained. To push for transfer without a certificate for the fence on the basis that there is no electrical fence is potentially fraudulent (I guess they'd argue its simply the remnants of one that doesn't function so technically isn't one) but also brings into question what was represented to you with regard to what fixtures existed on the property at the time you agreed to purchase it as an EF is not a cheap thing and would also impact things like insurance. Anyway, I think at this stage thats conjecture so better to have someone look to the agreement and conduct of the parties.
Exactly. I'd agree it would constitute fraud to push ahead with the transfer. As I said above, the estate agent represented the property as having an electric fence and alarm and said that they needed to be fit for purpose. I'm not sure where he got that from (can't find any legal basis for the comment) but it's heresay at this point. I'm chatting to the agent tomorrow so will bring this up. He's eager to get his commission too.

Many firms could assist, Smith Tabata for example are a large firm with a property department ( STBB ) ( CONTACT ) and you could request an indication of consulting rates from them.
Thanks. I may get in touch with them after I've chatted to the agent. Seems like a better option than LegalWise (although nobody has suggested I _don't_ use them. A mere R280 per month for the platinum membership. Nom nom.

If the energiser is directly wired into the premises wiring (distribution board) then it is included in the CoC. The electrician could simply disconnect it, thus rendering the premises safe, and issue a CoC.
This is what I'm worried about. I realised that this might happen with the outside lighting, so I put a condition in when signing transfer documents that they were not to be removed. Didn't realise the extent of the fence damage at the time and assumed that the requirement of a CoC would handle it. Look who was wrong (it me).

From first post, the electric fence is visibly not functional, which renders it a patent defect, and unless the offer to purchase specifically requires it to be functional, it is covered by the "AS IS" clause...
(I ran into this with a swimming pool that was leaking... since it was visibly not full, and I didn't specify it to be in good order in the offer...)
Jissis. That's a rough one, sorry you got caught out. I was looking here and they say that "The seller is, by law, obliged to disclose any defects in the property of which he or she is aware at the time of the sale."
Nothing was disclosed, surely that's good for me?

Also, do get a lawyer. The transfer attorneys have an obligation to not act against your best interest, but they will not act to resolve this matter. The contract is signed, so they are obligated to proceed as soon as the written contract's stipulations are met.
I was worried about exactly this, especially as the seller appears to be buddy buddy with the attorney. When I reported the water leak, the seller was quite quick to resolve it and when I asked for an update from the attorney, he just sent me a screenshot of the seller messaging him saying
Plumber has been there, there is a leak, I will rectify the problem. We going to replace the line from municipal line connection to the house connection. Hopefully the little shit will be happy.... lol. Thanks bud
The screenshot was not cropped and there was a screenshot of my conversation with the attorney earlier in the chat. So needless to say, I'm not expecting this guy (let alone trusting him) to act in my best interest.

Ultimately, I'd much rather apply pressure now than wait for the transfer to go through and my only recourse being to sue. This sounds much more painful and expensive.
 
Also, you have a lawyer. Who is footing the transfer bill? You are. Therefore they are in your employ. Get them on the phone and talk to them.
Ah, I missed this one. Yeah this is true, it's a little complicated because there are 2 lawyers involved in the transfer, but I can probably use this to my advantage. The conveyancing attorney has no incentive to do any favours for the seller and given I've made it clear that the fence CoC is an outstanding requirement, I'm guessing she'll prioritise protecting her own integrity and avoid being dragged into some fraud case because the seller was pressed for cash or something. At the moment, I'm still in a position to make a noise without actually having to do anything until transfer happens.
 
GF recently sold a house and CoC is definitely a bill for the seller to pay.
No it's not. It is for whoever get's stipulated in the contract.
It's a contract. If the contract requires you to do the hockeypockey and turn yourself around, then that is what you need to do to fulfil your contract.
 
No it's not. It is for whoever get's stipulated in the contract.
It's a contract. If the contract requires you to do the hockeypockey and turn yourself around, then that is what you need to do to fulfil your contract.
A lot of the stuff comes down to "what if it's not explicitly covered by the contract"?
Like there's no performance clause for the seller, but at some point I should be able to take him to court for wilfully obstructing the process. If the contract says "the seller can take his sweet time" and I agree to it, then that's a different story.
By default, the seller is responsible for providing CoCs (electrical, electric fence, gas, and beetle and plumbing in WC) and purchaser is responsible for paying all other fees (duties, lawyers fees, bond registration etc.)
 
TL;DR being an adult is a pain in the ass. Because you have to deal with other adults and they don't have their shit together like I used to think as a kid.
this is definitely one thing to learn.

and not everyone cares for the next person, also had similar issues with elec coc. issued but minimal work done. had to get the guys taht issued it a few times every time we had issues, but ended up just leaving it and sorted out most elec work with other co.
 
this is definitely one thing to learn.

and not everyone cares for the next person, also had similar issues with elec coc. issued but minimal work done. had to get the guys taht issued it a few times every time we had issues, but ended up just leaving it and sorted out most elec work with other co.
A colleague had the borer beetle certificate supplied by the seller of their house. I told her nottafuk, get someone to do a walk through. Took all of a minute or two for him to lift carpeting and find a fucked wooden floor. They tried to claim the definitions meant that carpeting excluded it for the certificate. I told the colleague that whether it does or doesn't its a window into the mind of the seller and she might want to recheck everything.
 
A colleague had the borer beetle certificate supplied by the seller of their house. I told her nottafuk, get someone to do a walk through. Took all of a minute or two for him to lift carpeting and find a fucked wooden floor. They tried to claim the definitions meant that carpeting excluded it for the certificate. I told the colleague that whether it does or doesn't its a window into the mind of the seller and she might want to recheck everything.
I went to look at the house at one point (after signing) and there were still bare wires coming out of the ground, out of the ceiling, outside cabling a mess. I'm not familiar with the standards, but I studied electronic engineering so I can identify when a place is obviously not to code. Tenant said the electrician had come for a day, did some stuff and hadn't been back. Asked the seller's attorney to please notify me when he got the CoC, and he WhatsApp'd me a PDF dated 2 weeks prior to then 😑
Raised it with the ECA and they contacted the electrician, suddenly all kinds of work was happening.
Agent said it's "fairly standard process to expedite things" to issue the CoC and then do the work to spec. I told him idgaf.

Now you see why I'm weary of all the "professionals" involved in this deal. Agent will get ultimatums tomorrow, and then it's lawyer time.
 
I went to look at the house at one point (after signing) and there were still bare wires coming out of the ground, out of the ceiling, outside cabling a mess. I'm not familiar with the standards, but I studied electronic engineering so I can identify when a place is obviously not to code. Tenant said the electrician had come for a day, did some stuff and hadn't been back. Asked the seller's attorney to please notify me when he got the CoC, and he WhatsApp'd me a PDF dated 2 weeks prior to then 😑
Raised it with the ECA and they contacted the electrician, suddenly all kinds of work was happening.
Agent said it's "fairly standard process to expedite things" to issue the CoC and then do the work to spec. I told him idgaf.

Now you see why I'm weary of all the "professionals" involved in this deal. Agent will get ultimatums tomorrow, and then it's lawyer time.

I think this would be okay if you both in agreement with it.
so the elec will state what all has to be done but you could get him to issue it to try get the property registered and all but the work would still need to be done. and as said this would be agreed upon by both parties as the work could also be done when you move in.

but the problem comes in with you thinking everything is according to spec and its not as we had an issue where the geyser would every now and then trip the power, and turned out that one wire was exposed and geyser was leaking now and then by the thermostat.
they took shortcuts as some of the places where there where outside lights, they just removed that light socket so they didn't have to fix or replace the cables.
 
I think this would be okay if you both in agreement with it.
Ja, zero agreement. Zero communication. That's why I got spooked when I received the CoC while the electrics were still in shambles. The transfer could proceed without the work actually being done. A lot of the headache of this deal has just been terrible communication from the seller's side, and I'm taking it up with the estate agent since it's his responsibility to keep me informed.

I heard last night that the seller is going to the house this morning and bring the "electric fence guy" with him to look at it. More alarm bells. I might opt to have my own person do the inspection and issue the CoC to make sure that the work actually gets done to spec because I'm expecting shortcuts to be taken.
they took shortcuts as some of the places where there where outside lights, they just removed that light socket so they didn't have to fix or replace the cables.
I had exactly this, but stipulated that they cannot be removed as the property was sold with them so it's misrepresentation. They moved 2 of the lights so they're still outside and re-did the wiring. Last I checked, of the 3 bulkheads on the wall, either 1 or 2 of them were working and I'm certain there's more to do than replace a bulb. Time will tell.
 
Ja, zero agreement. Zero communication. That's why I got spooked when I received the CoC while the electrics were still in shambles. The transfer could proceed without the work actually being done. A lot of the headache of this deal has just been terrible communication from the seller's side, and I'm taking it up with the estate agent since it's his responsibility to keep me informed.

I heard last night that the seller is going to the house this morning and bring the "electric fence guy" with him to look at it. More alarm bells. I might opt to have my own person do the inspection and issue the CoC to make sure that the work actually gets done to spec because I'm expecting shortcuts to be taken.

I had exactly this, but stipulated that they cannot be removed as the property was sold with them so it's misrepresentation. They moved 2 of the lights so they're still outside and re-did the wiring. Last I checked, of the 3 bulkheads on the wall, either 1 or 2 of them were working and I'm certain there's more to do than replace a bulb. Time will tell.
In another life I was part of a legal team fighting a development company from Gauteng who tried to take over a property development along the coast. They were responsible for all bulk supply infrastructure etc. Their interest in the development was of course to do the bare minimum to get the infrastructure to a point where they could offload responsibility onto the Homeowners' Association who then bore the responsibility of upkeep. As you can imagine this resulted in some bottom Dollar work done.

The developer was an HOA member with a majority vote on most aspects of the development until the phases were complete and erven were transferred out of the mother erf into the hands of new owners (because when you start a development there aren't other members). They tried to use that majority vote to bulldoze through approvals of their shoddy work on phase 2 of the development.

We won fortunately but it was a great example of how if you create an artificial legal hurdle (approval) there will always be people who try to clear it with no room to spare or will outright try and find a way to technically say it was cleared without it actually being done physically.

Your thing with the lights actually reminds me of a transfer from an estate where the CoC was fast tracked by agreement between both parties. The house had an outside workshop powered via a power cable strung between both buildings. This didn't come close to being in spec. The buyers weren't going to use the workshop so it wasn't an issue. So they cut the wire, that meant "no power to the building" so the electrician could ignore the fire hazard that was the work done.
 
Ja, zero agreement. Zero communication. That's why I got spooked when I received the CoC while the electrics were still in shambles. The transfer could proceed without the work actually being done. A lot of the headache of this deal has just been terrible communication from the seller's side, and I'm taking it up with the estate agent since it's his responsibility to keep me informed.
we had the communication just not everything being done as communicated and this is where its very important to always get this on paper. Lawyers for the seller agreed that they would pay the bill for filling the pool as I agreed to clean the pool at my cost and if repairs where needed they would do, so was only minor repairs needed and about 80K water and this was apparently during the time that you were not allowed to fill the pools so got a nice bill for water and they back paddled and I just wanted to part ways with them so just paid it.

I heard last night that the seller is going to the house this morning and bring the "electric fence guy" with him to look at it. More alarm bells. I might opt to have my own person do the inspection and issue the CoC to make sure that the work actually gets done to spec because I'm expecting shortcuts to be taken.
In this instance I would get them to do the work and get your guy to come check.
you don't really want two separate co's working on the property as now blame can be shifter by seller if you find something else not working later.

I had exactly this, but stipulated that they cannot be removed as the property was sold with them so it's misrepresentation. They moved 2 of the lights so they're still outside and re-did the wiring. Last I checked, of the 3 bulkheads on the wall, either 1 or 2 of them were working and I'm certain there's more to do than replace a bulb. Time will tell.

still have to leave with the bulb working, cant be said you need to just replace the bulb.
 
I went to look at the house at one point (after signing) and there were still bare wires coming out of the ground, out of the ceiling, outside cabling a mess. I'm not familiar with the standards, but I studied electronic engineering so I can identify when a place is obviously not to code. Tenant said the electrician had come for a day, did some stuff and hadn't been back. Asked the seller's attorney to please notify me when he got the CoC, and he WhatsApp'd me a PDF dated 2 weeks prior to then 😑
Raised it with the ECA and they contacted the electrician, suddenly all kinds of work was happening.
Agent said it's "fairly standard process to expedite things" to issue the CoC and then do the work to spec. I told him idgaf.

Now you see why I'm weary of all the "professionals" involved in this deal. Agent will get ultimatums tomorrow, and then it's lawyer time.
Same kind of nonsense happened when I bought my house. Stuff wasn't working, the wire for the borehole ran from the roof to the ground through mid air (you actually walked between it and the wall when you walked on the paving alongside the house.

I phoned the electrician that did the CoC and his excuses included:
"The estate agent phones us at 5pm and tells us we need to do CoCs for 5 properties by tomorrow 8am"
"We couldn't get into the garage so we disconnected the wires in the DB in the house" (the garage DB wasn't connected up)
"We couldn't check that so we noted it as an exclusion" (some stuff wasn't working)

They needed to redo the wire from the house to the garage and told me there would be a cost involved so I told them to take it up with the previous owner and to sort the kak out or I'd report them. Suddenly stuff got fixed at not cost to me. Flipping chancers.
 
Your thing with the lights actually reminds me of a transfer from an estate where the CoC was fast tracked by agreement between both parties. The house had an outside workshop powered via a power cable strung between both buildings. This didn't come close to being in spec. The buyers weren't going to use the workshop so it wasn't an issue. So they cut the wire, that meant "no power to the building" so the electrician could ignore the fire hazard that was the work done.

they did this with our electric gate, they put a plug on the other end of the cable and said gate motor not working. (fine I accepted it as I know how to fix it) but turned out to be just cleaning and one relay on boar that was shot. but gate would sometimes trip the earth and this turned out to be a cut in the cable going to motor, but i just replaced that and old cable was just dug in the garden not in a pipe and was joined on 3 places and looks like every time the ground was wet it would cause a trip.
 
An update: the transfer was finally lodged today. We are moving Saturday so still have to pay occupational rent but the agents seem to be just as annoyed with the seller as I am so they’re being accommodating.
I was sent an addendum to the sale agreement which stipulated when I would take occupation and how much I had to pay for the luxury. The seller then asked to change the addendum so I waited most of a day for his little change. He added:
“The purchaser takes occupation with the knowledge and consent to the ‘voetstoots’ clause as signed in the Deed of Sale.”

Obviously just making a point. I was furious but decided to just let it go and signed. I can’t double agree to something. According to his neighbours he was quite the piece of work.
The electric fence was also fixed by the lowest bidder, but it got a CoC and it seems good enough. They upgraded the energiser at my request (and expense) so that was nice. I spent the last 2 evenings fixing the alarm which the agent said would be sorted. I figured you just need to choose your battles.

All in all, didn’t need to go the legal route and excited to be a home owner :)
Thanks for all the input.
 
An update: the transfer was finally lodged today. We are moving Saturday so still have to pay occupational rent but the agents seem to be just as annoyed with the seller as I am so they’re being accommodating.
I was sent an addendum to the sale agreement which stipulated when I would take occupation and how much I had to pay for the luxury. The seller then asked to change the addendum so I waited most of a day for his little change. He added:
“The purchaser takes occupation with the knowledge and consent to the ‘voetstoots’ clause as signed in the Deed of Sale.”

Obviously just making a point. I was furious but decided to just let it go and signed. I can’t double agree to something. According to his neighbours he was quite the piece of work.
The electric fence was also fixed by the lowest bidder, but it got a CoC and it seems good enough. They upgraded the energiser at my request (and expense) so that was nice. I spent the last 2 evenings fixing the alarm which the agent said would be sorted. I figured you just need to choose your battles.

All in all, didn’t need to go the legal route and excited to be a home owner :)
Thanks for all the input.
Must be a relief finally putting it behind you, as for that acknowledgment if it was in before acknowledging it makes no real difference that I can fathom.
 
as for that acknowledgment if it was in before acknowledging it makes no real difference that I can fathom.
It doesn’t, I’m pretty sure he’s just trying to make a point.
Not sure whether he realises that “voetstoets” doesn’t absolve him of all responsibility, he didn’t declare any defects and the CPA still comes into effect in some cases so I will go after him if it’s necessary. He’s just an ass.
But yes, happy to have it (nearly) all behind me.
 

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