Article published with kind permission of
Luttig Badenhorst Fourie Attorneys
W
here a lease contract is breached in any
way by the tenant and him/her, after
receiving notice thereof, has not remedied such a breach within the period
agreed upon, and then the landlord may cancel the
contract. The tenant will be found to be an illegal occupier in this instance.
When can the lease be cancelled?
Where a tenant fails to perform as agreed upon in the
lease agreement, they will be found to be in breach of
that agreement. An example of this is a failure to pay
rent timeously or simply not at all.The landlord must
notify the tenant in writing of the decision to terminate
the contract by means of a letter of cancellation, allow-
ing the tenant a reasonable period to vacate the property.
What if the tenant refuses to leave?
If the tenant chooses to ignore the notice of cancellation of the lease agreement by remaining on the property and continuing to use and enjoy it, the tenant will
be regarded as an illegal occupier of the property. The
same applies if the tenant continues to occupy the
property after the expiration of the initial lease period
(without the permission of the landlord).An illegal occupier may be evicted from the rented property by the
landlord or owner. This will be done at a Magistrate’s
or High Court and for that the services of a lawyer will
be required.