Cape Town - Property scams are not new to South African courts. There have been many similar cases in the past, most of which have seen positive results for the victims.
* In Johannesburg, the Legal Resources Centre is representing scores of people who fell prey to a property scam known as the Brusson Scheme, in terms of which they were duped into handing over ownership of their properties in exchange for a loan.
Last year the South Gauteng High Court ruled in favour of the Moore family, ordering that their home be restored to them, and that they be placed in the position they were in before entering into a loan agreement with Brusson Finance (Pty) Ltd.
The court declared the agreements between Brusson and the Moores invalid and unlawful, and set them aside.
* In August, a full Bench of the Western Cape High Court ruled in favour of a 76-year-old wheelchair-bound pensioner.
Engela Lambrechts first turned to the Western Cape High Court in 2012 to get back the Bellville house which her father had built, and which had been in the family for about 50 years.
She was swindled out of the house when her debt-ridden son responded to a newspaper advertisement by Property Rescue, offering to help bond-free homeowners out of financial trouble.
* Mitchells Plain couple Joslyn and Vernon van Niekerk’s case did not have a happy outcome.
They turned to the Western Cape High Court in 2012, saying that Vernon had left his job and used money from his provident fund to buy a house in Rocklands in 2007.
However, the couple battled to cope with their expenses and, desperate to settle their debt, responded to an advertisement offering help to blacklisted people placed by close corporation Gentox A.
A man identified as Jonathan Katz offered them a deal which entailed selling the house to him, then renting it back from him, but with an option of buying it back after a year.
The couple agreed and sold the house to Katz for R95 000. When they signed the documents, they saw Katz was not a party to it but rather a close corporation called Gentox A, with Katz as the sole member.
The couple fell into rental arrears, and in March 2010 Katz issued a summons for the arrears amount. He also applied to have them evicted. The case was postponed several times until October 2012, when an eviction order was granted.
Weekend Argus