No or Partial Payment of Deposit and First Month’s Rent

In this tenant scam, a tenant will pay part of the deposit and/or first month’s rent and convince the landlord to allow the tenant to have occupation of the property and make promises to pay the rest later. When the agreed payment date arrives, the tenant will usually: make a further promise to pay later; provide the landlord with a plausible reason as to why payment could not be made; or stop responding to the landlord altogether. This tenant scam is actually quite common, and usually, most eviction cases stem from tenants employing this tactic.

There are several steps that a landlord can take to try and reduce the chance of falling for this tenant scam, such as:

• Requiring FULL payment before handing over the keys to the property.
• Contacting previous landlords to find out if the tenant failed to make any payment to them. [Note: Some landlords will sometimes hide the fact that the tenant failed to pay to try and have the tenant move out to avoid the costs of evicting the tenant.]
• Examine the payment history of the tenant on a platform such as TPN.

Late Payments

Another common tenant scam used by some tenants is to pay the rent late; the tenant will usually pay later and later to try and “train” the landlord into accepting whatever the tenant wants. Usually, when the date for payment arrives, the tenant will provide somewhat convincing reasons for the late payment; however, this usually evolves into the tenant failing to pay altogether.

There are several steps that a landlord can take to try and reduce the chance of falling for this tenant scam, such as:

• Insisting on payment as agreed to in terms of the lease agreement.
• Taking quick action when the tenant fails to make payment as agreed to in the lease agreement. This conditions the tenant to make payment when they have to, or else they will receive a letter of demand or some other notice.
• Examine the payment history of the tenant on a platform such as TPN.

Prepayment of Rent

This uncommon tenant scam involves the tenant offering to prepay the rent, then prepaying the rent (Eg, for 4 months) and then making no further payments whatsoever. While this tenant scam is hard to detect, there are steps that can be taken to try and reduce the likelihood of falling victim to this tenant scam.

Steps that can be taken:

• Examine the payment history of the tenant on a platform such as TPN.
• Determining the tenant’s ability to afford rent through an affordability assessment.
• Determining where the money comes from. This is to see if the money received was a one-off payment or if it is a regular occurrence. Example: If the money is from the tenant’s monthly wage or salary, this could be seen as a reduced risk. If the money comes from a business deal that was successful, this could be seen as an increased risk.

Demanded Alterations

Some prospective tenants will demand that a property be renovated or that certain changes be made to the property before the tenant moves in. In this case, the tenant might be demanding unreasonable changes and/or renovations, and this should be guarded against. These tenants usually prove difficult to work with and are prone to withholding rent or other payments if they do not get their way, and hence it might not make commercial sense to do business with this type of tenant.

Steps to avoid this type of tenant:

• Make sure that the property is maintained to a reasonable state.
• Talk to previous landlords to get a feel of what type of person the tenant is.
• Examine the payment history of the tenant on a platform such as TPN.
• Talk to the tenant to get a feel for what type of person the tenant is.
• Act in a calm and reasonable manner. The moment you become overly emotional, the tenant will abuse this to try and make their move.

Fake Proofs of Payment

This is, unfortunately, a common tenant scam used by some tenants to trick the landlord into thinking that payment has been made. In this case, the tenant would manipulate an existing proof of payment (“POP”) to show that payment has been made, or the tenant would create a completely fictitious proof of payment and provide it to the landlord. This tenant scam is hard to detect by looking at the proof of payment itself, but some investigation can quickly reveal the truth.

How to avoid:

• Wait for the funds to clear.
• Google the bank that supposedly issued the proof of payment, and phone the bank to confirm the details of the proof of payment.
• Examine the payment history of the tenant on a platform such as TPN. Some tenants that are prone to this tactic will usually have done it before.

Disclaimer: The above should not be accepted as legal advice, and you are advised to seek legal advice. The above is based on our own observations, and your circumstances may be different to warrant a different solution or outcome.

The post Common Tenant Scams every Landlord needs to watch out for first appeared on EasyEvictions.

For so long as the tenant has the right to occupy the property, the tenant cannot be evicted from the property and hence it is crucial that the right to occupy the property be terminated in accordance with the applicable laws and the agreement. If the right to occupy is not terminated in accordance with the applicable laws and the agreement, the right to occupy the property will survive and continue to allow the tenant to occupy the property and resist an eviction.

Most landlords are of the view that simply telling the tenant to leave the property is sufficient to terminate the lease agreement; however, this is not so. The right to occupy the property needs to be terminated, and only then can a landlord tell the tenant to vacate the property.

The above should not be accepted as legal advice, and you are advised to seek legal advice.

The post Why is it so important that the right to occupy be terminated? first appeared on EasyEvictions.

Loss of Rental Income

The most obvious answer to the question is that you are losing money every day that the non-paying tenant is in the property and we often refer to this as a loss of opportunity because for so long as the tenant is in the property, you cannot lease the property to a paying tenant and hence your losses will increase as time goes by.

Increased Overheads

Another reason is that you would usually be liable for the costs of owning the property while the non-paying tenant is in occupation of the property. These costs accumulate quite quickly, and hence some landlords have to pay substantial amounts once the non-paying tenant has been evicted from the property.

Risk of Damage to Property

There is the risk that the non-paying tenant may cause damage to the property, as the non-paying tenant has already shown disregard for the obligations of the non-paying tenant in regards to paying of rent and hence it is hardly a stretch to conclude that a non-paying tenant will not properly maintain the property. This is compounded in situations where there is an existing dispute between the landlord and the non-paying tenant because the non-paying tenant may feel aggrieved and hence have little reason not to damage the property.

Rental Boycots

Some non-paying tenants will let the paying tenant know that the non-paying tenant is not paying rent and this may encourage other currently paying tenants to also cease paying rent. This is especially true when the non-paying tenant is aggrieved or feels slighted by the landlord.

Inability to Maintain the Property

Where a non-paying tenant is in unlawful occupation, the non-paying tenant might refuse to allow the property to be maintained. This leads to increased renovation costs when the non-paying tenant is finally evicted. In some cases, the non-paying tenant would refuse to allow maintenance to take place in order to claim in court that there has been no maintenance in order to try and sway the court when hearing the eviction application.

Eviction Time Periods

Most evictions require certain time periods to pass before a subsequent step can take place and hence starting with the eviction process sooner will result in these time periods running – even if it later becomes unnecessary to proceed with the entire eviction process.

The above should not be accepted as legal advice, and you are advised to seek legal advice.

The post Why should I evict a non-paying tenant as soon as possible? first appeared on EasyEvictions.

(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law or the common law, the provisions of this section apply to proceedings by an owner or person in charge of land for the eviction of an unlawful occupier.

In the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act:

“owner” means the registered owner of land, including an organ of state;

“person in charge” means a person who has or at the relevant time had legal authority to give permission to a person to enter or reside upon the land in question;

In light of the above, there are only two groups of people who can seek an eviction order: firstly, the owner of the property; and secondly, the person in charge of the property. While this appears to be rather narrow, the courts have interpreted the above to mean that the following persons can sue for an eviction order:

• Persons who own the property and have their names on the title deed;
• Executors of late estates;
• Trustees;
• Curators;
• Liquidators;
• Sublessors;
• Estate agents – where mandated to lease the property;
• Property managers, where mandated to grant the right to occupy the property; and,
• Any person who has been given the authority to grant someone the right to occupy the property.

Generally speaking, the courts prefer that the property owner sues for the eviction, as it is easy to prove that the property owner has the right to sue for an eviction; however, this is not a rule against someone else suing for the eviction.

The above should not be accepted as legal advice, and you are advised to seek legal advice.

The post Who are the only people allowed to evict someone from property? first appeared on EasyEvictions.

The reason why you should not lock out non-paying tenants is that section 16(hA) of the Rental Housing Act specially makes it a criminal offence to unlawfully lock out tenants, and the punishment for doing so could be a fine, imprisonment or both a fine and imprisonment.

Another reason why it is not recommended to lock out non-paying tenants is that the tenants could approach the Rental Housing Tribunal or any court for an order that you must give them access and possession of the property and hold you liable for their legal costs.

In light of the above, we recommend that you do not lock out non-paying tenants unless you have a court order permitting it.

The above should not be accepted as legal advice, and you are advised to seek legal advice.

The post Can I lock out non-paying tenants? first appeared on EasyEvictions.

In a long list of cases (Port Elizabeth Municipality v Various Occupiers 2005 (1) SA 217 (CC); City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality v Blue Moonlight Properties 39 (Pty) Ltd and Another 2012 (2) SA 104 (CC); and Occupiers, Berea v De Wet NO and Another 2017 (5) SA 346 (CC)), it was decided that the obligation to provide alternative accommodation rests on the Government.

In light of the above, you can rest assured that you do not need to provide an evictee with alternative accommodation.

The post Must I provide tenant I want to evict with alternative accommodation? first appeared on EasyEvictions.

In fact section 8(1) of the PIE Act reads as follows:

No person may evict an unlawful occupier except on the authority of an order of a competent court.

If you evict someone with a court order, you could potentially be sentenced to a fine, imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both a fine and imprisonment.

The above should not be accepted as legal advice, and you are advised to seek legal advice.

The post Can I evict someone without a court order? first appeared on EasyEvictions.

In order to get an eviction court order in terms of the PIE Act, the following process will need to be followed:

Step One

The right to occupy the property must be terminated and so we would send a letter of demand to the tenant demanding all arrear rent and compliance with the lease agreement. Should the tenant fail to comply with the demands in the letter of demand a termination letter is sent to the tenant (sometimes people call this letter the ‘eviction letter’.

Step Two

We draft the eviction court papers and have these papers delivered by the Sheriff of the Court. These eviction court papers explain to the tenant why they are being evicted and also provide other information needed by the court to reach its decision.

Step Three

We have the court consider what has happened so far in the eviction process and then the court authorises a special notice warning the tenant of the date on which the court will consider the eviction.

Step Four

We approach the court to have the eviction court order granted and the court considers all relevant factors such as: the reason for terminating the right of occupation; the process followed so far; whether the tenant has a legal defence to the eviction; the harm caused to the landlord; and; whether or not the is alternative accommodation for the tenant (you do not need to provide this accommodation). In this step, the court usually grants the eviction court order and indicates when the eviction can take place.

Step Five

A warrant of ejectment (or writ of ejectment) is obtained and given to the Sheriff of the Court to evict the tenant from the property.

The post How do I get an eviction letter? first appeared on EasyEvictions.

We normally advise our clients that they should start considering an eviction in the following situations:

• Where the tenant is outright refusing to pay rent.
• Where the tenant is behind with rent and fails to provide concrete payment dates, or misses the payment dates.
• Where the effort required to manage the tenant exceeds the value received from the tenant paying rent.
• Where the tenant is abusive towards the landlord. This can take the form of the tenant making unrealistic demands (such as painting the property a certain colour, or having to make repairs to damage caused by the tenant).

Owing to the eviction process taking some time and not being instant, it is often better to make a decision sooner rather than later and hence you are welcome to contact us to discuss your matter and provide you with advice that is applicable to your circumstances.

The above should not be accepted as legal advice, and you are advised to seek legal advice.

The post When is the right time to evict a tenant? first appeared on EasyEvictions.