I've had a tenant in my property going on 2 months. She is contstantly lyingng to me. As per lease agreement, September rent was meant to be paid in on the first of September, she paid it on the 26th. Was full of stories about how she had setup the debit order incorrectly. We are now on the 19th of October and she hasn't yet paid October rent which was due on the 1st. Also full of nonsense and lies throughout the month. Last Saturday she whatsapped me saying she was at the bank and was goign to transfer the money but needed the bank details which were already on the lease agreement and i had already sent to her various times. I sent her my bank details again and asked for proof of payment. Nothing came through.  I sent her various warnings and she continued playing me with excuses and lies. Earlier this week I sent her a letter of cancellation of lease for being in breach for the second time. She now claims she is not paying because of certain things that are not to her liking in the house.

I really need some legal advice. The agent that found the tenant does not want to help me. I want her out of there at the end of October. The lease agreement says that if she breaches it twice in a 12 month period I have the right to cancel it. She owes me R18 500. Is she liable for my legal fees? I have all suporting emails and whatsapps of what has been going on over the past 2 months.

Hi there and thank you for your question,

I am a practicing attorney based in South Africa and I will assist you with your question. Please feel free to ask as many follow up questions in order to clarify your question. If you have a new question, you must please open a new thread.

Okay, so you have a bad tenant. Many people do, you are really not alone. You need to read your lease agreement carefully and comply with whatever it says. It sounds like you've already done this in relation to the cancellation notice, so that's good. But just check carefully.

Normally you need to send a letter saying "you're in breach; you didn't pay your rental; you've got 7 days to pay otherwise I can cancel the lease". You can't just send a letter cancelling the lease because the person is in breach. You need to tell them about the breach, and you need to give them an opportunity to rectify the breach. 

If you have followed the requirements, and have cancelled the lease, then you need to get them out. 

This is done through an eviction application at the magistrates court. It would be best if you had a lawyer to assist you with this application, as it can be tricky. She will have an opportunity to appear before the magistrate and to file an affidavit setting out her defence. The magistrate will ultimately make a decision. If you have cancelled the lease correctly, the magistrate must order her to leave the property - the only thing is that the magistrate will give her time to move. 

At the end of the day, it could take anywhere from 3 months to 8 months to get the whole thing resolved, and to get this lady out! You might need to get the sheriff to actually kick her out if she does not listen to the magistrate.

I can't refer you to a specific lawyer, but I can direct you to www.southafricanlawyer.co.za, where you can find a list of qualified lawyers in your area who will be able to assist you further!

Then, you can also sue her for damages for staying in the property. This would be done by way of a summons and would be separate to the eviction application. You should probably do both of these things at the same time. 

Finally, you would need to pay your lawyer to represent you. If you win the case, the magistrate will make an order that your tenant must repay you the legal fees. But those legal fees are based on a tariff, so if the tariff says you can recover R800 per hour, but your lawyer charges you R2000 per hour, you will only actually recover a portion of the fees that you've incurred. 

If the rental is R18,500 per month, you should act quickly because you will quickly get behind with all of your payments!

If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.

Att. Patrick

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