Tourism KwaZulu Natal - 2010 World cup and Freedom to contract

Overview

Media comments about accommodation for 2010 World cup is misleading where it relates to private sector tenant-landlord relationship. Accommodation establishment according to eThekwini Municipal bye-laws “means any premises in or upon which the business of supplying lodging with or without meals for reward is conducted for more than four persons…” excluding flats or maisonettes, hotels registered as an hotel under the Hotels Act, 1965 (Act 70 of 1965) and a home for the aged which is registered as such in terms of the Aged Persons Act, 1967 (Act 81 of 1967). A person who intends to operate such a business must lodge an application.

The Rental Housing Act 50 of 1999 as amended (RHA) is the law that deals with residential tenancies in the entire geographical area of South Africa. The RHA is a law passed by Parliament for landlords/landladies and tenants of residential dwellings. It is the law of general application aimed to protect and regulate tenant-landlord relationship in all situations of leased dwellings. A municipality would be acting beyond it powers if it were to interfere with the common law, law of contract, the Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986, the Rental Housing Act and the country’s Constitution. A municipality’s policy may contain provisions that are unlawful or invalid and seriously prejudiced the rights of its citizen. A case in point is a policy that unlawfully empowers the police or an official to take action against a municipality’s tenant who cannot produce a lease agreement to occupy its dwelling or a permit to trade. There are legal procedures that must be followed without exception and a municipality must lead by example by upholding the law. The national and provincial governments, all its departments, and every municipality are equal before the law in South Africa. The law would apply differently in an Orwellian state.

There is a duty on our government to prevent rental exploitation not for international reasons but because many South African tenants (approximately 12 million people live in rental accommodation), are exploited, forced to pay exorbitant rentals and unlawfully dispossessed of occupation. Many people break municipal bye-laws, subjecting their tenants to horrendous living conditions, without intervention or appropriate remedial action from the municipality. A municipality must treat all tenants with respect, dignity and equality, before, during and after the 2010 World cup.

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.