Hefty bill thanks to ‘squatters’

POLOKWANE – The family of the prospective buyer of a house in Ladanna managed to clock up a R37 000 electricity bill while living in the house illegally over the past few months.

This shocking state of affairs was only discovered by the prospective seller some months after the family took occupation of the house illegally.

The prospective seller, who did not wish to be named, said as she lived in another city and the sale of the house was in progress, she saw no reason to give the prospective buyer the keys to the house, which was empty.

Seemingly, the prospective buyer gave a family member the keys and allowed them to move into the house. These illegal occupants also reportedly made structural changes to the house, removed wall-to-wall carpeting, taps and closet doors.

The owner of the house has now been forced to fight a legal battle in order to have these illegal occupants forcibly removed from her house.

This is not an isolated incident, according to various real-estate agents in the city.

According to them, prospective sellers should be careful of dealing with prospective buyers under the following circumstances:

• The buyer requests a cash-back-at-closing deal. Here, the buyer offers you more than the home is worth if you agree to kick back the extra money at closing.

• The buyer isn’t pre-approved for a mortgage loan. This person can tie up your home, preventing you from considering better offers.

• The buyer offers no or very little Earnest Money Deposit (EMD). The lower the EMD, the more likely the deal will fall through.

• The buyer makes the purchase agreement contingent on the sale of his home. For your home to sell, several other transactions must occur first. This is known as the domino effect, and you should avoid it if possible. This type of contingency ties up the sale of your house with no guarantee that the interested parties will ever actually go through with the deal.

• There are applicants who are very good at imposing their emergency situation on an owner or manager. Especially if an applicant has children, he or she will encourage an owner or manager to let them move in before all of the paperwork and verifications are completed.

• Check this person out very carefully before you give him the keys to your property, see if he has a record of renting and where possible speak to previous homeowners that rent a property to the person.

• If every discussion becomes a debate between what the seller is doing regarding the buying process, like the securing of warranties.

• When the applicant appears to have a short temper, especially when you ask specific questions about his finances and rental history.

According to a local attorney, who did not wish to be named for professional reasons, in a case where people stay on a property illegally, the process to follow would be to begin with an eviction order. This could be followed up with court proceedings. He said depending on what action the illegal tenants took, the process could be over very soon. However, he warned that at worst, it could take more than a year. He said it would be preferable to avoid such a situation at all costs.

Polokwane police spokesperson, Capt Ntobeng Phala said a homeowner could make use of the police when serving an eviction order to illegal tenants in their homes. “A homeowner with a court order of eviction can request the assistance of the police in accompanying them to ensure there are no problems,” he said.