This judgment relates to two neighbours' attempts to prohibit a property owner from pushing through building plan applications that were premised on an unconventional assessment of the property's natural height, based in turn on an apparently untruthful affidavit from the previous owner that there used to be a sand dune on the property, thereby allowing the current owner to build to a higher height. Finding that the affidavit was probably untruthful and the surveyor's related height assessment optimistic, the Court set aside the municipality's approval of the plans as it was aware of the controversy. It also prohibited the owner from using the disputed height assessment as a basis for further building applications. read more The Judgment Summary of the Judgment
SALE INDUCED BY FRAUD RESCINDED Quartermark Investments (Pty) Ltd v Mkhwanazi and Another (768/2012) [2013] ZASCA 150 (1 November 2013) In this matter the Court declared the sale and transfer of a property after a fraudulent misrepresentation to the owner as to the nature of the transaction, void and allowed the agreement to be rescinded. It emphasized that where a claim for re-transfer is based on the rei vindicatio (an owner's claim for the return of what is his), the owner need not tender the return of any gain he may have received, in this instance the settlement of the bond that was registered over the property. The fraudulent party must instead institute a separate claim for enrichment, if so advised. read more The Judgment Summary of the Judgment