Rental issues

Self help is costly

It is always difficult to resolve a dispute between a non-paying tenant and a frustrated landlord or landlady that may ultimately lead to the tenant being illegally locked out of the dwelling.

The tenant, who is unable to pay rental because of a change in financial circumstances, usually does not give the landlord/lady priority.  There are landlords who do make allowance for changes that are beyond the control of their tenants, but can do so only up to a point.

Sometimes, a landlord decides to shut off the supply of electricity and water to the tenant’s dwelling, hoping to get the tenant to settle the rental arrears or to vacate the dwelling.  If this fails to deliver the desired result, the landlord may prevent the tenants and his or her family entry to the dwelling.

The tenant’s goods are either locked in the dwelling or stored in another location.  The goods may be all the landlord has as “security” in lieu of the outstanding rentals, or perceives it as a means of a final inducement for the tenant to pay.

The self-help remedy a landlord resorts to sometimes succeeds in securing and eventually recovering the arrears.  The landlord, having recovered the rentals, may allow the tenant to continue to occupy without compensation for the deprivation the tenant suffered due to the illegal disconnection of services or the lockout.

The tenant enters into a lease for the full use and enjoyment of the dwelling in return for the rental amount that is agreed on and the payment date.  The rental is due in full, on time and must be paid regularly in terms of section 4(5) of the Rental Housing Act, 50 of 1999 as amended (the RHA).  The provisions of the RHA also protect the tenant form unlawful; action by the landlord, such as the self-help remedy mentioned above.

About the Author

Dr Sayed Iqbal Mohamed is the holder of a BA degree from the University of Durban Westville. He also has other certifications including: Certificate of Estate Agency; Certificate in Housing Policy, Development & Management programme (cum laude): Wits-UDW and a Certificate in Sectional Title Scheme Management (UCT). Other qualifications include his MA (cum laude) for his thesis on Landlord and Tenant disputes; and a DPhil in gender and women empowerment. He is currently pursuing his LLB.

Iqbal has served on the KwaZulu Natal Rental Housing Tribunal in the capacity of Chairperson. He is also a Member of the Council of Canadian Administrative Tribunals, a Social Facilitator for the Ethekwini Municipality housing upgrade and if that is not enough, he is also a Columnist for the Daily News where he discusses landlord and tenant matters. He has 25 years of experience in landlord-tenant matters and serves as an activist, paralegal consultant and director of projects for the Organisation of Civic Rights.