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Cape Court Ruling Now Requires Auction Reserve Prices

Recently the Gauteng High Court ruled that when a home is going to be sold on auction the credit provider must get a reserve price set and cannot sell the property for less than this price.

This is a big deal because in the past there were no set floor prices or reserve prices and in some cases property was sold for as little as R10 leaving the former, now homeless, homeowner with huge unreasonable debts to pay over many, many years.

The Cape Town High Court recently heard a very similar case (with many different respondents including the banks and even the NCR) about the topic and followed suit with the Gauteng ruling.

The Cape Courts will now require that these matters not be split up into several smaller cases which stretches consumers budgets and also that where a home can be sold on auction it must have a reserve price.

Also, the courts now have the power to postpone such cases and allow a consumer the time to catch up payments (this would mostly be where the amount owed is small) and they can organise a repayment plan right there in the court.

‘the Sheriff of the Court has to deliver papers personally to the hands of the consumer involved’

In addition, the court also required that in such matters the Sheriff of the Court has to deliver papers personally to the hands of the consumer involved (the debtor). In the past, many consumers were unpleasantly surprised when they found out that their homes were going to be put on auction and that a court case had already happened without there knowing about it. This was often due to the practice of simply affixing papers to the door of the consumers domicilium address (the one on the contract). This now has to change.

Download the Ruling

Cape Town High Court ruling on auction reserve prices 2018