Dog owners can face strict liability when their animals attack someone, meaning the injured person does not necessarily have to prove that the owner was negligent. But that doesn’t make owners automatically liable for every bite. Here, the claimant put his head over his neighbour’s boundary wall after being asked more than once to leave...Read More

A 13th cheque is not automatically guaranteed. But where it forms part of your employment contract, your employer cannot simply withdraw it or replace it with a performance-based bonus without your agreement. The Labour Court ordered an employer that had done so to pay 45 employees a 13th cheque for every year it had gone...Read More

Lying to get a job can cost far more than the job itself. A former V&A Waterfront chief information officer was ordered to pay nearly R2.9 million in damages after the Labour Court found that she had misled the company into employing her and into paying for two consultants who had worked for her private...Read More

Summer’s the perfect season to go house-hunting, with the sun shining, new properties on the market, and sales surging. Let’s talk about what you should do when you’ve found your dream home and the agent asks you to sign an offer to purchase. We’ll lead you through the process and share some guidelines to help...Read More

Your fingerprint suddenly stops working at the estate gate. You can still get home, but only through the visitors’ lane. Can your homeowners’ association cut off your biometric access because it says you owe levies? A recent High Court judgment says an association cannot use biometric access to enforce an alleged default. The case also...Read More

Under the current law, it is already illegal to employ someone who is not legally entitled to work in South Africa. This applies to businesses and to households employing foreign domestic workers, nannies or gardeners. A new Bill proposes additional duties and higher penalties for employers, but these changes are not yet law. Employers should...Read More

It’s unfortunately all too common a tale. Out of the blue, an older person, rendered vulnerable by age or illness, acquires a new “friend”. Before anyone in the family realises what’s going on, their loved one has died, and the fraudster claims to be sole heir in terms of a last-minute will. No surprise then...Read More

After their bond was withdrawn, the buyers were given time to arrange new finance. Instead, one of them emailed the conveyancer saying they would only apply for another bond after the seller repaired an alleged defect or agreed to reduce the price. The seller understood this to mean that the buyers would not proceed on...Read More

Home security cameras are increasingly common, but protecting your property does not give you an unrestricted right to monitor your neighbours. A dispute between Cape Town neighbours has clarified where the line may be drawn. The bottom line? CCTV surveillance of a neighbour’s private spaces can infringe their constitutional rights to privacy and dignity. “Good...Read More

In most cases hitting a pothole results in a damaged tyre or wheel. But for one unfortunate motorcyclist who hit a 60cm behemoth near George, it meant losing a leg. The High Court held the Department of Infrastructure liable for his damages, finding that the roads authority had failed to detect, repair or warn road...Read More