“Crying wolf is a real danger” (David Attenborough) POPI (the Protection of Personal Information Act) will provide welcome protection for our personal information – our names, ID numbers, addresses, medical histories and so on. But the other side of the coin is that it will expose small businesses in particular to a whole new raft…
“Possession is nine-tenths of the law” (wise old idiom) Optic fibre is bringing “superfast broadband” to an exponentially-increasing number of South African homes and businesses. And competition in the field is fierce. Which is great for us as consumers, but if you live or work in a “community scheme” there’s a catch. How does your…
“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome” (Isaac Asimov) If you don’t want to be kept artificially alive – without your consent and perhaps in pain and distress – long after your medical condition becomes hopeless, you need to communicate your decision now to the doctors, hospitals and loved ones who…
Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance” (George Bernard Shaw) “Fake News” is big business in 2017. Social Media in particular is increasingly awash with it because it is so easily propagated via unsuspecting readers duped into endorsing and sharing it. The problem is that our brains are literally programmed to get…
“Sick building syndrome” caused by poor indoor air quality has been linked to illness and lack of productivity around the world. One easy way to fight it is to decorate with pot plants. Not only do they help in purifying the air of all the toxins we put into it with our cleaning chemicals and…
“Cause they told me everybody’s got to pay their dues And I explained that I had overpaid them” (Sixto Rodriguez in ‘Cause’) Before you as seller can transfer your property to the buyer, you must have a clearance certificate from your local municipality confirming that you have paid in full all rates and taxes, services…
We buy and sell things every day, and no doubt most of us assume that it is only when we become the owner that we take the risk of our purchase being damaged or destroyed. Not always – in our law, passing of ownership and passing of risk are two different concepts, and although in…
Airbnb is an increasingly popular and lucrative way for residential property owners to earn extra income from short-term rentals of spare rooms, holiday houses, apartments and the like. Bear in mind these 3 factors – You need to provide for taxes. SARS has recently confirmed that your Airbnb earnings (after deduction of allowable expenses) are…
“Let’s choose executors and talk of wills” (Shakespeare) If you haven’t made your will yet, get it done now. Why is that so important and how should you go about it? To answer that let’s debunk a few of the more pervasive myths and misconceptions around those questions – “I’m too young to need a…
“A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on” (Samuel Goldwyn) A recent High Court judgment is yet another reminder of how essential it is to comply with all necessary formalities when entering into any sort of agreement, particularly when dealing with the sale of property. © LawDotNews A fight over eviction and…