A bill has been tabled in Parliament that says that a tenant who stops paying rent, or a landowner who stays in occupation of land after he has ceased to own it, cannot be regarded as an illegal occupier.
The prevention of illegal eviction from and unlawful occupation of land amendment bill was presented on Parliament on Monday by Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu. It amends the 1998 act, which a memorandum accompanying the bill says was subjected to "various implementation and interpretation problems".
The appeal court, for example held that the old act did indeed apply to proceedings for eviction of erstwhile tenants whose leases were ended, or mortgagors who refused to vacate land after foreclosure of their bonds.
The aim of the act, the memorandum says, was only to cover those who unlawfully invaded land without the prior consent of the landowner or person in charge of the land.
However, the bill does make clear that the definition of land includes buildings and structure. "Many buildings, particularly high rise buildings have been and continue to be occupied unlawfully," the memorandum says, "often at the instance of non-owners who then collect rent from the illegal occupiers."
The old act did not make it an offence to arrange the unlawful occupation of land - although it does prohibit the receipt or solicitation of money for doing so. This the amendment bill remedies, "due," the memorandum says, "to the nature and increase in land invasions, often on land which has already been earmarked for housing development."
The new bill also inserts a definition for "constructive eviction", so as to allow for prohibition of the practice. The distinction between people occupying land for less or more than six months is also done away with, because it constituted an unconstitutional inequality in the protection of a person’s right not to be evicted.
A previous version of this bill was tabled three years ago, but the portfolio committee on housing asked for it to be withdrawn to allow for further consultation with the department of land affairs, so as to align it with similar land occupation laws administered by that department.
- I-Net Bridge
The prevention of illegal eviction from and unlawful occupation of land amendment bill was presented on Parliament on Monday by Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu. It amends the 1998 act, which a memorandum accompanying the bill says was subjected to "various implementation and interpretation problems".
The appeal court, for example held that the old act did indeed apply to proceedings for eviction of erstwhile tenants whose leases were ended, or mortgagors who refused to vacate land after foreclosure of their bonds.
The aim of the act, the memorandum says, was only to cover those who unlawfully invaded land without the prior consent of the landowner or person in charge of the land.
However, the bill does make clear that the definition of land includes buildings and structure. "Many buildings, particularly high rise buildings have been and continue to be occupied unlawfully," the memorandum says, "often at the instance of non-owners who then collect rent from the illegal occupiers."
The old act did not make it an offence to arrange the unlawful occupation of land - although it does prohibit the receipt or solicitation of money for doing so. This the amendment bill remedies, "due," the memorandum says, "to the nature and increase in land invasions, often on land which has already been earmarked for housing development."
The new bill also inserts a definition for "constructive eviction", so as to allow for prohibition of the practice. The distinction between people occupying land for less or more than six months is also done away with, because it constituted an unconstitutional inequality in the protection of a person’s right not to be evicted.
A previous version of this bill was tabled three years ago, but the portfolio committee on housing asked for it to be withdrawn to allow for further consultation with the department of land affairs, so as to align it with similar land occupation laws administered by that department.
- I-Net Bridge
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