Widow’s home ‘stolen’ by estate agency

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File photo

Published Jun 25, 2015

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Durban - An uMlazi widow has sought relief from the Durban High Court to stop the sale of her home, claiming the person selling it was not the rightful owner and this was being investigated by the police.

Nompumelelo Ndlovu said her home was sold to an uMlazi lecturer without her knowledge or consent and she only learnt of this when she tried to sell it.

The lecturer apparently went back on his promise to ensure the return of her property by instructing his bank to sell the house to recover the arrear bond repayments he owed.

On Wednesday Judge Peter Olsen granted an interim order preventing the lecturer from selling the property and also stopping the bank from taking any action against the lecturer until the matter has been finalised.

He has until July 30 to show why this order should not be made final.

In court papers, Ndlovu said she became executrix of her husband, President Mabelwa Mbongwe’s estate when he died in 2011.

Their home, she said, was the only asset he left to her and she had planned to use the proceeds from its sale to buy a new house.

This was now on hold pending a police investigation into the alleged fraudulent property sale and transfer to the lecturer.

Her husband’s insurance settled the bond on the house, but the bank appeared to have lost the title deed and she had applied for a copy.

In 2013, she signed a sale agreement with a prospective buyer whom she allowed to live in the house while they awaited the transfer.

The new owner had then shown her post that came to the house in the lecturer’s name and had referred to him as the property owner.

Following a deeds search, she learnt the property had been sold to him by an estate agency in July last year.

Ndlovu said she did not give this agency a mandate to sell her house nor did she sign documents authorising the sale and transfer.

She managed to contact the lecturer, who apparently said he was prepared to ensure the property was returned to her. Convinced he was sincere, she delayed reporting the matter to the police.

But this changed when she learnt he had instructed his bank to sell the property so that it could recover his arrear bond repayments.

In May, she reported the matter to the Montclair SAPS who are apparently investigating if a syndicate was involved.

Police

“I do not know who received the proceeds of the fraudulent sale of the property and I have asked the police to establish that. I also do not know who went to the conveyancer to sign under the pretext that she was the authorised person to sign the documents. I have looked at the signatures on the sale agreement signed by (the lecturer); they do not resemble mine,” her affidavit read.

She said she also did not know who in the Deeds Office authorised the property sale as she did not sign any transfer documents.

The lecturer, his bank, and the Deeds Office are all listed as respondents in this high court application.

She believes she and his bank are victims of fraud and that the bank financed the fraudulent transaction. She advised them of this so that the “culprits can be brought to book” but said she had not received a response.

She felt the property sale would interfere with the police investigation and with yet another person involved, it would “frustrate” her chances of getting the property back.

The new homeowner was said to still want to go ahead with the sale because money had already been invested in renovating the property.

Police spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, said such incidents were uncommon in KwaZulu-Natal but he warned property owners to regularly check the status of their property with the relevant offices.

A provincial conveyancer concurred with Zwane and said syndicates were involved and this incident could be the start in KZN.

He referred to cases in Pretoria where officials from the Deeds Office were suspended for fraud. He said there were several checks and balances in the Deeds Office and identity theft was possible when applying for a copy of a title deed.

One could claim the original deed was lost and required a copy and would use a fake ID to apply for one.

Gary Nichols, provincial chairman of the Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa, said it was difficult for such fraud to take place because of the stringent rules and transfer processes in place, but said it was possible with collusion with an illegal estate agent, attorney or someone within the Deeds Office.

He cited an example of a bank repossession where the owner had made his bond repayments to the estate agent who, instead of paying this to the bank, had pocketed the money.

“It was a well-known and respected person in the community so the person trusted him,” he said.

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