Homeowner left homeless
Midrand homeowner, Paul Gallimore has been left homeless after his tenants won a case in the High Court accusing Gallimore of illegally evicting them from his R 5.5 million house.
In April 2013 Gallimore signed an unconditional offer to purchase with a businesswoman who asked to move in immediately while paying off the full amount for the sale over a six month period.
After months of her defaulting on her payments Gallimore sent her a notice to inform her she was in breach of contract and then cancelled the sale, at the same time he informed the tenant that he would be moving back into the house and that she would need to vacate the premises.
Gallimore explained that the tenant put up no resistance to this and so on 17 July he arrived with his things and a locksmith to change the locks.
Less than 24 hours later Gallimore was given notice to appear in court where he was accused of illegal eviction according to the protection of illegal eviction Act.
The judge ruled that Gallimore had evicted the tenants illegally and he was forced to move out of the house and allow the tenant to re-occupy it.
Since the ruling Gallimore has been staying at a friend’s house in the same estate his own house is in.
His wife has had to move into her parent’s house, outside the city while his son cannot come home from university as there is no place for him to stay and their cat has run away during the tumult of the moves.
Gallimore said, “The irony is that I have information that she’s actually occupying two houses at once and I don’t even have a home anymore! I walk past my house all the time and it seems like no one is even living in it.”
Gallimore is not happy with the judgement and say, “The law needs to be re-visited. My tenants knew the law and used it against me. They need to prosecute serial squatters.”
Attorney Zeenat Sujee from Wits Centre for Applied Legal Studies says, “The law pertaining to evictions emanates from section 26 of the Constitution, which is the right to housing. The legislation intends to protect vulnerable people against illegal evictions as proper processes should be followed. In our view the protection from illegal eviction Act was enacted to bring effect to both sections 25 and 26 of the Constitution, thereby protecting both the land owner as well as the people in occupation of the property.”
This experience has certainly taught Gallimore to be more careful he says, “For anyone going into a sale, you must be very careful before entering into any contracts before doing a background check.”
