{"id":24466,"date":"2013-10-16T21:50:27","date_gmt":"2013-10-16T19:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/2013\/10\/pet-ban-gives-buyers-paws-for-thought\/"},"modified":"2013-10-16T21:50:27","modified_gmt":"2013-10-16T19:50:27","slug":"pet-ban-gives-buyers-paws-for-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/pet-ban-gives-buyers-paws-for-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"Pet ban gives buyers \u201cpaws\u201d for thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Property Poser panel has been asked to assist a reader whose complex has instituted a \u201cno pets\u201d policy, which is negatively affecting the sale of her property.<\/p>\n

The reader owns a sectional title unit, which she vacated some time ago and recently put on the market.<\/p>\n

She explains that the body corporate has recently decided to disallow any new pets in the complex, as there are currently too many of them.<\/p>\n

This decision has had a negative impact on three potential sales as the interested buyers quickly lose interest when they hear that pets are not allowed in the complex.<\/p>\n

The reader has spoken to the chairman of the body corporate who advised that they have erected a sign outside the complex advising of the new policy. She even approached the managing agents but to no avail.<\/p>\n

She now asks what else she can possibly do as the new stance regarding pets has a direct negative impact on her due to the difficulty in finding a buyer.<\/p>\n

According to Sean Radue of Radue Attorneys<\/a> in Port Elizabeth<\/a>, the general rule is that an owner shall not be entitled to keep a pet in his section without the written consent of the trustees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trustees should consider the individual circumstances and merits of each application to keep a pet. This considered consent might be subject to certain conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should the owner breach these conditions, the given consent may be withdrawn, says Radue.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly, the consent should not be withheld unreasonably.\u201d<\/p>\n

Radue says the ownership of a section allows the owner certain rights generally enjoyed by property owners.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, ownership of a section may be, and is generally, limited by certain rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

A general and total exclusion of pets negates this aspect of ownership and makes no provision for an application to keep a pet to be considered on its own merits, says Radue.<\/p>\n

He says the total exclusionary policy would probably be acceptable in certain instances where such a policy could be justified.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that the trustees feel that there are too many animals in the complex is arguably arbitrary in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Radue says it would, for example, be difficult to rely on the policy where the pet\u2019s existence would not be obvious to anyone outside its owner\u2019s section.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsider a case where the animal is completely housebound and absolutely quiet. While this example may sound extreme, it is useful in identifying where a blanket policy could be considered unreasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reader could formally request that the policy be reconsidered and the position on individual applications clarified, says Radue.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven with the apparent abundance of animals in the complex, new applications could be considered more strictly and approved only where the trustees consider it appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should the trustees not reconsider this matter, the reader may have recourse to the courts for a declaratory order on the basis of them having unreasonably withheld their consent, says Radue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would apply equally to any new or existing owner of a section.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThese businesses support MyPE<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

MyPE<\/a> supports PE business:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Property Poser panel has been asked to assist a reader whose complex has instituted a \u201cno pets\u201d policy, which is negatively affecting the sale of her property. The reader owns a sectional title unit, which she vacated some time ago and recently put on the market. She explains that the body corporate has recently […]<\/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":[3330],"tags":[3338,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-24466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-port-elizabeth","7":"tag-mype-co-za","8":"tag-port-elizabeth-2","9":"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\/24466","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=24466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}