Case Law[2022] ZASCA 177South Africa
Eden Crescent Share Block Ltd v Olive Marketing CC and Others (1075/2020) [2022] ZASCA 177; 2023 (3) SA 476 (SCA) (9 December 2022)
Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa
9 December 2022
Headnotes
Summary: Application for leave to appeal in terms of s 17(2)(d) of the Superior Courts Act 10 of 2013 – validity of servitude – whether servitude invalid on account of vagueness – whether general or specific servitude – whether special procedures envisaged by s 8(1)(c) of the Share Block Control Act 59 of 1980 and s 4B of the Housing Development Schemes for Retired Persons Act 65 of 1988 required for validity of servitude.
Judgment
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## Eden Crescent Share Block Ltd v Olive Marketing CC and Others (1075/2020) [2022] ZASCA 177; 2023 (3) SA 476 (SCA) (9 December 2022)
Eden Crescent Share Block Ltd v Olive Marketing CC and Others (1075/2020) [2022] ZASCA 177; 2023 (3) SA 476 (SCA) (9 December 2022)
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sino date 9 December 2022
THE
SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL OF SOUTH AFRICA
### JUDGMENT
JUDGMENT
Reportable
Case
no: 1075/2020
In
the matter between:
EDEN
CRESCENT SHARE BLOCK
LTD
Applicant
and
OLIVE
MARKETING
CC
First Respondent
ETHEKWINI
MUNICIPALITY
Second Respondent
and
SHEPSTONE
&
WYLIE
Third Party
Neutral
citation:
Eden Crescent Share
Block Ltd v Olive Marketing CC and Others
(1075/2020)
[2022]
ZASCA 177
(9 December 2022)
Coram:
Dambuza ADP, Molemela and Plasket JJA and Basson and Siwendu AJJA
Heard
:
9 November 2022
Delivered
:
This judgment
was handed down electronically by circulation to the parties’
representatives by email, publication on the Supreme
Court of Appeal
website and release to SAFLII. The date and time for hand-down is
deemed to be 11:00 am on 9 December 2022.
Summary:
Application for leave to appeal in terms of
s 17(2)
(d)
of
the
Superior Courts Act 10 of 2013
– validity of servitude –
whether servitude invalid on account of vagueness – whether
general or specific servitude
– whether special procedures
envisaged by s 8(1)
(c)
of the Share Block Control Act 59 of
1980 and s 4B of the Housing Development Schemes for Retired Persons
Act 65 of 1988 required
for validity of servitude.
ORDER
On
appeal from:
KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court, Durban
(Moodley J sitting as court of first instance):
1
Eden Crescent Share Block Ltd’s (Eden) application for leave to
appeal
is dismissed.
2
Eden is directed to pay the costs of Olive Marketing CC (Olive),
including
the costs of two counsel where employed.
3
Olive’s application for leave to appeal against paragraph 6 of
the
high court’s order is dismissed.
4
Olive is directed to pay the costs of the Ethekwini Municipality
(Ethekwini),
including the costs of two counsel where employed.
5
Ethekwini’s application for leave to appeal against paragraph 7
of
the high court’s order is dismissed.
6
Ethekwini is directed to pay the costs of Shepstone & Wylie,
including
the costs of two counsel where employed.
JUDGMENT
Plasket
JA (Dambuza ADP, Molemela JA and Basson and Siwendu AJJA concurring)
[1]
In application proceedings subsequently referred to trial in the
KwaZulu-Natal Division
of the High Court, Durban, the first
respondent, Olive Marketing CC (Olive) succeeded in obtaining an
order to enforce a servitude
against the applicant, Eden Crescent
Share Block Ltd (Eden). Its success meant that its conditional claim
for damages against the
second respondent, the Ethekwini Municipality
(Ethekwini),
[1]
joined as a
defendant when the matter was referred to trial, and Ethekwini’s
conditional claim against a number of third
parties, including
Shepstone & Wylie, the firm of attorneys which registered the
servitude, were dismissed. Leave to appeal
having been refused by the
high court, Eden petitioned this court for leave, while Olive and
Ethekwini petitioned for leave to
appeal, conditionally, against the
dismissal of their claims. This court made an order referring all of
the applications for leave
to appeal for oral argument in terms of s
17(2)
(d)
of the
Superior Courts Act 10 of 2013
, with the usual rider that the
parties should be prepared to address the merits if called upon to do
so.
[2]
Eden owns erf 11496, Durban, while Olive owns erf 12424, Durban which
adjoins Eden’s
property. I shall, unless the context otherwise
requires, refer to these properties as ‘the Eden property’
and ‘the
Olive property’. Both parties purchased their
properties from Ethekwini. The deed of sale concluded by Ethekwini
and Eden
provided that a parking servitude of at least 250 parking
spaces would be created over the property in favour of Olive’s
property. In the deed of sale concluded by Ethekwini and Olive, it
was recorded that the property enjoyed the benefit of a parking
servitude over erf 11496. Eden has consistently refused to provide
parking to Olive and has asserted that the servitude is invalid.
This
dispute resulted in the proceedings in the high court and is the
subject matter of this application for leave to appeal.
[3]
The contours of the dispute are fairly narrow. While Olive, Ethekwini
and Shepstone
& Wylie, the only third party to participate in
these proceedings, argue that the servitude is unimpeachable, Eden
asserts
that it is invalid for two broad reasons. First, it is a
specific servitude that has not identified essential elements, namely
the precise number and location of the parking spaces. As this has
not been agreed, the servitude-creating agreement is inchoate,
vague
and unenforceable. Secondly, to the extent that the servitude
amounted to an alienation of Eden’s property, because
it was
not approved in terms of the special procedures provided for in s
8(1)
(c)
of the Share Blocks Control Act 59 of 1980 (the Share
Blocks Act) and s 4B of the Housing Development Schemes for Retired
Persons
Act 65 of 1988 (the Retired Persons Act), it is invalid.
Background
[4]
An arrangement has been in place for over 60 years, by means of
different mechanisms,
in term of which the Eden property has provided
parking for people using the Olive property. The potential for
difficulties arising
was, of course, limited while Ethekwini owned
both properties.
[5]
As far back as the 1960s, Olive’s property was used as an ice
rink. Later, a
cinema was added to it. Eden’s property was
initially required to provide parking for patrons of the ice rink and
the cinema
on the basis of a provision in a long lease. In early
1967, Ethekwini rezoned Eden’s property to provide, inter alia,
that
it ‘shall only be used for the parking of vehicles, and be
fenced, hardened, arranged and laid out, and means of ingress and
egress established, all to the satisfaction of the City Engineer’.
[6]
Ethekwini then began to negotiate with Durban Holiday Inn (Pty) Ltd
(the Holiday Inn),
which wished to build a hotel on the property. The
lease that was concluded by Ethekwini and the Holiday Inn, in May
1972, provided
that 250 parking spaces were to be reserved
‘exclusively for use by the patrons of the cinema and/or
Icedrome’. This
right was also confirmed in the lease concluded
by Ethekwini and the operator of the ice rink and cinema. By this
stage, the town
planning scheme applicable to the Eden property had
been amended to provide that, in addition to the parking required by
the Holiday
Inn, ‘250 parking spaces shall be provided for the
exclusive use by patrons of the Cinema and/or Icedrome’. This
provision
remains in force to this day.
[7]
The Holiday Inn constructed a hotel on the Eden property. It also
built a multi-storey
parking lot, as an integrated component of the
hotel. On two occasions, it applied unsuccessfully to Ethekwini for
the relaxation
of its obligation to provide 250 parking spaces for
patrons of the Olive property.
[8]
In the early 1990s, the Holiday Inn ceded its lease to Renhill
Properties Share Block
Ltd. The parking obligation remained in place.
In 1993, a property developer, Scott & Scott Property Investments
CC (Scott
& Scott) obtained a cession of the lease. The
obligation to provide 250 parking spaces for patrons of the Olive
property still
remained in place.
[9]
In 1994, Scott & Scott and Ethekwini agreed that Eden would
become the lessee
of the property in order to develop a retirement
scheme on it, and that, in due course, Eden would purchase the
property from Ethekwini.
In July 1994, Eden and Ethekwini concluded
an agreement of sale in respect of the property.
[10]
The deed of sale provided, inter alia, that: the ‘existing
lease of the lot shall terminate
on date of transfer’;
[2]
the property would only be used and developed ‘in accordance
with all relevant Municipal By-Laws and Town Planning Scheme
Regulations in force from time to time’;
[3]
it would ‘only be used for the purpose defined in section 4C of
the Housing Development Schemes for Retired Persons Act 65/1988’;
[4]
and in the event of the cancellation of the agreement, Eden would
‘remain bound by the terms and conditions of the Notarial
Deed
of Lease in terms of which it occupies the lot and shall continue to
abide by [the] terms of such Lease . . .’.
[5]
[11]
Clause 15 is central to this appeal. It is headed ‘PARKING
SERVITUDE’ and provides:
’
15.1
It is recorded that in term of clause 9 of the Deed of Lease l42/72
registered in respect of the lot, the Lessee
(and in this case the
Purchaser) is obliged to provide and have available parking on the
lot for at least 250 motor vehicles for
the Lessee of the adjoining
property described as Lot 11444 Durban (the dominant tenement).
15.2
It is agreed that a parking servitude over the lot shall be created
in favour of the dominant tenement and
registered by Notarial Deed
simultaneously with registration of transfer of the lot in the name
of the Purchaser whereby parking
for at least 250 motor vehicles is
secured over the lot in favour of the dominant tenement. The cost of
registering such servitude,
which shall be prepared and registered by
the City Council’s Attorneys, including survey costs and the
preparation of the
survey diagram, shall be borne by the Purchaser.
15.3
The servitude shall contain inter alia, the following conditions:
15.3.1
The servitude area shall be used for the purposes of parking at
least
250 motor vehicles and shall be made available for the exclusive use
of the dominant tenement.
15.3.2
The Purchaser may charge a tariff for the use of the servitude
area
comprising the parking area which may not be more than the average
amounts charged for a similar period of time for parking
by parking
garages in the vicinity of the lot.’
[12]
Despite clause 15.2 contemplating the simultaneous registration of
the servitude and the transfer
of the property, this did not happen.
For pragmatic reasons, it was agreed by Eden and Ethekwini that
transfer would proceed and
the servitude would be registered later.
Transfer occurred on 16 April1996.
[13]
The servitude was registered on 18 February 1997. The deed of
servitude recorded that Eden had
granted, on 28 July 1994, in favour
of the Olive property, described as the dominant tenement, ‘in
perpetuity, together with
all the rights necessary and incidental to
the use and enjoyment thereof, a certain Servitude to provide parking
for at least 250
motor vehicles’ over the Eden property,
described as the servient tenement. The servitude was subject to
three conditions.
They are:
‘
(a)
The cost of preparation and registration of the Deed of Servitude,
including survey costs and
preparation of the survey diagram shall be
borne by the Grantor.
(b)
The Servitude area shall be used for the purpose of parking at least
250 motor vehicles
and shall be made available for the exclusive use
of the dominant tenement.
(c)
The Grantor may charge a tariff for the use of the servitude area
comprising the parking
area which may not be more than the average
amounts charged for a similar period of time for parking, by parking
garages in the
vicinity of the servient tenement.’
[14]
In or about August 2003, Ethekwini published a developers brief that
called for offers to purchase
the Olive property and proposals to
develop it. The developers brief made specific reference to the
parking servitude over the
Eden property in favour of the Olive
property. Olive submitted an offer on 19 September 2003. Olive and
Ethekwini concluded an
agreement of sale on 22 September 2008. Clause
8.3 of that agreement recorded that ‘a parking servitude has
been created
and registered over the adjoining property described as
Erf 11496 Durban in favour of [erf 12424] . . . whereby parking for
at
least 250 motor vehicles has been secured for the exclusive use of
patrons or users of [erf 12424]’. Transfer of the property
was
registered on 21 September 2009.
The
issues
The
nature of the servitude
[15]
The first attack on the validity of the servitude is that it is a
specific, as opposed to a general,
servitude that is void for two
reasons. First, it does not identify the parking spaces. Secondly,
the number of parking spaces
it provides for is uncertain.
[16]
The second issue can be dealt with summarily. The servitude provides
that Eden must make available
to Olive parking for ‘at least
250 motor vehicles’. There is no uncertainty about this. All it
means is that Eden must
provide 250 parking spaces and, if it chooses
or agrees to provide more, it may do so. As it may charge for the
parking, there
may be an incentive for it to offer more than 250
parking spaces.
[17]
I turn now to the first issue. It is necessary in the first instance
to determine whether the
servitude is a specific or general one. A
general servitude was defined by Cameron and Froneman JJ, in
Tshwane
City v Link Africa and Others
,
[6]
to be a servitude that allows ‘the dominant owner to select the
essential incidental rights of the necessary premises and
to take
access to them as needed for the exercise of the servitude’.
[18]
The way in which a problem such as this is to be approached was dealt
with by Hefer JA in
Nach
Investments Ltd v Yaldai Investments (Pty) Ltd and Another
.
[7]
A deed of sale had provided that a seller ‘reserves to itself
and its successors in title . . . a servitude of right of way
in
perpetuity . . . the exact route of which servitude is to be
determined by agreement between the seller . . . and the purchaser
.
. .’. When no agreement had been reached despite several
attempts, the purchaser applied for a declaratory order that the
servitude was void for vagueness and invalid.
[19]
Hefer JA’s starting point was that the route of a right of way
is not an essential term,
in the sense that the parties are free to
either constitute the right of way on a specific route or generally.
If a general servitude
is created, ‘the entire servient
tenement is subject to the servitude and the grantee may select a
route provided only that
he does so
civiliter
modo
’.
[8]
Hefer JA then made a second observation about servitudes that do
contain a reference to a route. He stated:
[9]
‘
The
second observation is that where the formulation does contain such a
reference and the route is said to be determinable by agreement,
the
servitude may or may not be valid depending on the intention of the
parties. If the intention is to constitute a specific right
of way,
ie one which may only be exercised along a specifically defined
route, the agreement is inchoate at least as to a material
term and
for that reason it is unenforceable until the route is agreed upon.
But the agreement is perfectly valid and enforceable
if a general
servitude is intended and there is a reference to a future agreement
merely because the parties contemplate that the
route will eventually
be agreed upon. What is envisaged in such a case is an initial
general right which may be converted to a
specific one by subsequent
agreement. Accordingly, where there is a dispute about the nature of
the right conferred on the grantee
in any given case, the intention
of the parties is decisive. It is to be determined, of course, by
interpreting the agreement according
to the normal rules of
construction.’
[20]
Clause 15 of the deed of sale embodies the agreement to create the
servitude and the deed of
servitude mirrored its terms in material
respects. Both instruments refer to the costs of a survey diagram
being borne by Eden.
When the servitude was registered, however,
there was no survey diagram. One is not required for the registration
of a general
servitude. For what it is worth, the Registrar of Deeds
in all likelihood must have been satisfied that he was dealing with a
general
servitude. More importantly, in both instruments, no
reference is made to where on the servient property the parking
spaces are
to be; and no reference is made either of any agreement to
agree to this in the future. The servitude is simply created ‘over
the lot’ and ‘in favour of the dominant tenement’.
This makes it clear that the parties intended that the entire
servient tenement was subject to the servitude and that Olive had the
right to select the parking spaces, subject to acting
civiliter
modo
.
[10]
From a practical perspective, I am sure that the
civiliter
modo
principle would restrict the choice of parking spaces to within the
parking garage.
[21]
My findings that the servitude is a general servitude, that no
mention was made at all of where
on the servient tenement the parking
spaces were to be and no mention was made of this being agreed in the
future, distinguish
Seale
and Others v Minister of Public Works and Others
,
[11]
which was relied on by Eden. In that case, the servitude had been
held to have been a specific one that had identified three general
locations for points of access to the Hartbeespoort Dam, the
specifics of which had to be agreed to by the parties but had not
been. In these circumstances, Van der Merwe JA held that ‘[m]aterial
elements of the right of access would therefore only
be determined by
further agreement’ and this amounted to ‘an agreement to
agree’,
[12]
which was
unenforceable as no deadlock-breaking mechanism had been put in
place.
[13]
[22]
The result of my findings set out above is that the servitude is not
invalid on account of its
failure to specify the location of the
parking spaces. There are no reasonable prospects of success on
appeal in relation to the
first ground of attack on the validity of
the servitude.
The
Share Blocks Act and the Retired Persons Act
[23]
I turn now to the question whether the servitude is invalid as a
result of the absence of approvals
in terms of s 8(1)
(c)
of
the Share Blocks Act and s 4B of the Retired Persons Act.
[24]
Section 8(1)
(c)
of the Share Blocks Act provides:
(1)
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law-
.
. .
(c)
a share block company shall not have the power, save with the
approval by special resolution of a general
meeting of the share
block company, to alienate or cede, as the case may be, any immovable
property of which it is the owner or
any of its rights to immovable
property of which it is not the owner and in respect of which it
operates a share block scheme.’
[25]
Section 4B of the Retired Persons Act provides:
‘
(1)
Unless at least 75 per cent of the holders of rights of occupation in
a housing development scheme consent thereto the land
concerned may
not be alienated free from such rights . .
(2)
Any alienation taking place without the consent of the holders as
contemplated in subsection (1) shall be null and void.’
Section
1 of the Act defines the term ‘alienate, in relation to a
housing interest’, to mean:
‘
(a)
sell, exchange, lease, donate, grant or otherwise dispose of or place
at disposal; or
(b)
the making of an irrevocable offer to acquire the interest for
consideration.’
[26]
The argument advanced on behalf of Eden was that because the
servitude agreed to in July 1994,
before any shares in the share
block company were sold to retirees, was not registered
simultaneously with transfer, on 16 April
1996, but only on 18
February 1997, transfer of an unencumbered property occurred and,
when the servitude was registered, the encumbrance
of the servitude
amounted to an alienation. As an alienation of immovable property of
a share block company requires the authorisation
of a special
resolution of a general meeting of the company, and this did not
occur, the servitude is invalid. A similar argument
was made in
respect of s 4B of the Retired Persons Act: the alienation was never
consented to by at least 75 percent of the holders
of rights of
occupation of the Eden property with the result that, in terms of s
4B(2), the alienation was a nullity.
[27]
In order to assess the merits of this argument, it is necessary to
track the development of the
right in favour of the Olive property to
parking spaces on the Eden property. Clause 3.1 of the deed of sale
provided that the
lease that had been in place would only terminate
on the date of transfer. The obligation to provide parking to patrons
of the
Olive property was a term of Eden’s lease. It was
therefore obliged in terms of the lease to provide parking from the
date
of the signing of the deed of sale in July 1994 until the date
of transfer on 16 April 1996.
[28]
Clause 15.2 of the deed of sale provided that the parking servitude
would be created simultaneously
with registration of transfer. As, by
agreement, registration of the servitude did not occur at the same
time as transfer, as initially
envisaged, the servitude that came
into existence on 16 April 1996 was unregistered from that day until
18 February 1997.
[29]
The effect of an unregistered servitude was set out as follows by van
der Walt:
[14]
‘
In
this respect, registration is a validity requirement for the creation
of servitudes; prior to or in the absence of registration,
there is
no valid servitude yet but merely a personal right that is valid only
between the parties to the agreement in which it
is embodied.’
He
adds that the personal right includes a right to the co-operation of
the other party in the registration of the servitude and
personal
rights identical to the servitude.
[15]
In
Bowring
NO v Vrededorp Properties CC and Another
,
[16]
Brand JA held that a purchaser with knowledge of an unregistered
servitude ‘will be bound, not only to give effect to the
servitude, but also to co-operate in having the servitude
registered’.
[30]
So, from the date of transfer on 16 April 1996 until the registration
of the servitude on 18
February 1997, the owner of erf 12424 –
Ethekwini – enjoyed personal rights against Eden, in the terms
embodied in
clause 15 of the deed of sale, in respect of parking
spaces for at least 250 vehicles on Eden’s property. On
registration
of the servitude, these personal rights were converted
into real rights enforceable against Eden and its successors in
title. And
in the background, the town planning scheme imposed
precisely the same obligation on Eden.
[31]
It is apparent from what I have set out above that there was no time,
from when Eden first leased
its property until the registration of
the servitude, that it was free of the obligation to provide 250
parking spaces for the
patrons of the Olive property. When it
purchased the property it did so subject to the parking obligation
and it agreed then to
the creation of a parking servitude. It never
enjoyed occupation or ownership of the property free from the parking
obligation
in one form or another. It cannot therefore be said to
have alienated any part of its property. For this reason, s
8(1)
(c)
of the Share Blocks Act and s 4B of the Retired
Persons Act have no application and have no effect on the validity of
the servitude.
In any event, having agreed to purchase the property
subject to the parking obligation, the subsequent registration of the
servitude
in fulfilment of that obligation cannot be equated to an
alienation of the property.
[32]
These provisions do not apply for another reason too. The deed of
sale was signed in July 1994.
It was signed on behalf of Eden by Mr
Anthony Scott, a director of the sole shareholder of Eden, namely
Scott & Scott. At that
stage, Eden had not sold a single share to
a retiree. That only commenced in December 1994. Neither the Share
Blocks Act nor the
Retired Persons Act have any application for that
reason and because, when Eden concluded the agreement of sale, it
never alienated
anything. Instead, it acquired the property, but it
did so subject to the parking obligation.
[33]
My conclusion is that the servitude is not invalid on account of any
conflict with the Share
Blocks Act or the Retired Persons Act. There
are consequently no reasonable prospects of Eden succeeding on appeal
in relation
to the second ground of attack on the servitude.
The
conditional applications for leave to appeal
[34]
After the matter was referred to trial, Olive initiated a claim for
damages against Ethekwini.
It was conditional on the high court
finding that the servitude was invalid. As the high court pointed
out, ‘absent a finding
that the servitude is invalid, there is
no dispute and no lis between [Olive] and [Ethekwini]’. As it
upheld the validity
of the servitude, it dismissed, in paragraph 6 of
its order, Olive’s claim against Ethekwini with costs. Olive’s
application
for leave to appeal against this order is conditional on
leave to appeal being granted to Eden.
[35]
After Ethekwini had been drawn into the fray, it initiated third
party proceedings against, inter
alia, Shepstone & Wylie. Its
claim against Shepstone & Wylie was also conditional on the
servitude being found to be invalid.
As a result of the high court
finding that the servitude was valid, it dismissed, in paragraph 7 of
its order, Ethekwini’s
conditional claim against Shepstone &
Wylie with costs. Ethekwini’s application for leave to appeal
against this order
is also conditional on leave to appeal being
granted to Eden.
[36]
Even though a central plank of the cases of Olive, Ethekwini and
Shepstone & Wylie is the
validity of the servitude, the basis for
raising it differs from party to party. It is the basis for Olive’s
case against
Eden; it is the principal defence raised by Ethekwini
against Olive’s claim; and it is likewise the principal defence
of
Shepstone & Wylie in the third party proceedings brought by
Ethekwini. In this scheme, there is a lis between Olive and Eden,
a
separate conditional, lis between Olive and Ethekwini and yet another
separate conditional lis between Ethekwini and Shepstone
&
Wylie.
[37]
As Eden’s application for leave to appeal cannot succeed, both
Olive’s application
for leave to appeal against the dismissal
of its claim against Ethekwini, and Ethekwini’s application for
leave to appeal
against the dismissal of its third party claim
against Shepstone & Wylie have no reasonable prospects of
success. Both must
be dismissed with costs.
The
order
[38]
I make the following order:
1
Eden Crescent Share Block Ltd’s (Eden) application for leave to
appeal
is dismissed.
2
Eden is directed to pay the costs of Olive Marketing CC (Olive),
including
the costs of two counsel where employed.
3
Olive’s application for leave to appeal against paragraph 6 of
the
high court’s order is dismissed.
4
Olive is directed to pay the costs of the Ethekwini Municipality
(Ethekwini),
including the costs of two counsel where employed.
5
Ethekwini’s application for leave to appeal against paragraph 7
of
the high court’s order is dismissed.
6
Ethekwini is directed to pay the costs of Shepstone & Wylie,
including
the costs of two counsel where employed.
C
Plasket
Judge
of Appeal
APPEARANCES
For
the applicant:
A Annandale SC and W N Shapiro SC
Instructed
by:
Livingston Leandy Inc, Umhlanga Rocks
McIntyre Van der Post,
Bloemfontein
For
the first respondent:
M Pillemer SC
Instructed
by:
Eversheds Sutherland (KZN) Inc, La Lucia
Honey Attorneys,
Bloemfontein
For
the second respondent: G Goddard
SC
Instructed
by:
Luthuli Sithole Attorneys, Durban
Matsepes Inc,
Bloemfontein
For
the third party:
S R Mullins SC and P J Wallis SC
Instructed
by:
Clyde & Co, Sandton
Honey Attorneys,
Bloemfontein
[1]
References
to Ethekwini include, for the sake of convenience, its predecessor,
the Durban City Council.
[2]
Clause
3.1.
[3]
Clause
13.1.
[4]
Clause
13.2. Section 4C(1) of the Retired Persons Act provides:
‘
(a)
No developer shall alienate a right of occupation in relation to a
housing interest which originated as from the commencement
of the
Housing Development Schemes for Retired Persons Amendment Act, 1990,
or enter into an agreement having such effect or
purporting to have
such effect, unless the title deed of the land concerned to which
such right relates, has, with the consent
of the owner of that land
and, if the land is encumbered by a mortgage bond, the consent of
the mortgagee, or, in the case of
a participation bond, the consent
of the nominee company concerned as contemplated in the
Participation Bonds Act, 1981 (Act
55 of 1981), in whose favour the
bond is registered, been endorsed by a registrar as defined in
section 102 of the Deeds Registration
Act, 1937 (Act 47 of 1937), to
the effect that such land is subject to a housing development
scheme.
(b)
For the purposes of paragraph
(a)
it shall be deemed that a right of occupation in relation to a
housing interest originates as soon as a developer alienates the
first right of occupation in a housing development scheme.’
[5]
Clause
16.3.
[6]
Tshwane
City v Link Africa and Others
[2015]
ZACC 29
;
2015 (6) SA 440
(CC) para 142.
[7]
Nach
Investments Ltd v Yaldai Investments (Pty) Ltd and Another
1987
(2) SA 820 (A).
[8]
At 831C-E. See too A J van der Walt
The
Law of Servitudes
(2016) at 418-420.
[9]
At 831F-H.
[10]
This means no more than that Olive must, in choosing the parking
spaces, act ‘reasonably viewed, with as much possible
consideration and with the least possible inconvenience to the
servient property and its owner’ (
Anglo
Operations Ltd v Sandhurst Estates (Pty) Ltd
[2006] ZASCA 118
;
2007 (2) SA 363
(SCA) para 21).
[11]
Seale
and Others v Minister of Public Works and Others
[2020] ZASCA 130.
[12]
Para 27.
[13]
Para 32.
[14]
Note 8 a
t
92-93.
[15]
Note 8 a
t
93, fn 112.
[16]
Bowring
NO v Vrededorp Properties CC and Another
[2007]
ZASCA 80
;
2007 (5) SA 391
(SCA) para 8.
sino noindex
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