Verbal agreements between family members often create problematic situations with regard to living arrangements.<\/p>\n
A reader writes that, a few years ago, her son and his wife suggested that their double garage be converted into a flatlet for her and her partner. Part of this arrangement included that a new double garage be constructed on the property.<\/p>\n
The financing for these alterations was provided by the reader who raised a bond on another erf she owns. She also agreed to pay the monthly electricity charges in respect of the whole property, not only the flat, while her son and daughter-in-law would take care of the rates and garden services.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, four years later, the reader’s son and his wife got divorced. He moved out and his ex-wife remains on the property with his mother.<\/p>\n
Our reader’s concerns relate to whether her son’s ex-wife can evict her from the property without refunding her for the improvements made at her own expense.<\/p>\n
Her former daughter-in-law refuses to reduce the agreement between them to writing and the reader is concerned what the effect will be on her rights, particularly when she reaches retirement age.<\/p>\n
There are two aspects that need to be considered says Grant Berndt from Abdo & Abdo Attorneys in East London.
\n“Firstly, the right to live on the said property and, secondly, the improvements on someone else’s property paid for by the reader.”<\/p>\n
In the absence of the right to live on the property being registered against the title deed, which it does not appear was the case here, it simply remains a personal right, says Berndt.<\/p>\n
Should the owner of the property commence with eviction proceedings, Berndt says the terms of the agreement may be used as a defence.<\/p>\n
“The oral nature of the agreement doesn’t make it any less binding, it is simply more difficult to prove its terms.”<\/p>\n
According to Brian Kinnear, principal of Fresh Lifestyle Properties in East London, there are a few important aspects to highlight as far as improvements to the property are concerned.<\/p>\n
“In this instance, it is clear that the owner of the property consented to the improvements that were made and these almost certainly increased the value of the property.”<\/p>\n
In the event of the reader being successfully evicted, for whatever reason, Kinnear says she certainly has grounds for compensation.<\/p>\n
“It is clear that there is a basis for a claim against the owner, whoever that may be, founded on the improvements made to the property.”<\/p>\n
To ask a property related question, visit www.propertyposer.co.za.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Verbal agreements between family members often create problematic situations with regard to living arrangements. A reader writes that, a few years ago, her son and his wife suggested that their double garage be converted into a flatlet for her and her partner. Part of this arrangement included that a new double garage be constructed on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1933,2788,2525,2789,1932,1931],"class_list":{"0":"post-10062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-abdo-attorneys","8":"tag-agreements","9":"tag-divorce","10":"tag-flatlet","11":"tag-fresh-lifestyle-properties","12":"tag-property-poser","13":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10062"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10064,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10062\/revisions\/10064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}