Newsletter | Basson Blackburn Attorneys | Paarl | South Africa

THE BOND CLAUSE: NO DUE DATE = DISPUTE + DELAY!

If your property sale is subject to a suspensive condition (such as the buyer obtaining a bond), ensure that a specific time limit is clearly stated. Otherwise the buyer has by implication of law a "reasonable time" within which to obtain the bond - and, since you can't start looking for another buyer until the existing sale has definitely lapsed, that's a recipe for uncertainty, dispute, and costly delay.

What is or isn't a "reasonable" period of time depends, per a recent High Court decision on -

The "peculiar circumstances" of each case, and
Factors such as
"...... the contemplation of each of the parties at the time of entering into the contract",

"......... any particular difficulty or cause of delay that might or did arise, if it was reasonably foreseeable", and

"......... the commercial interests of each of the parties."

To illustrate - as a general rule 6 weeks may seem like plenty of time to get a bond, but in this particular case the seller was unable to convince the court that it was indeed enough, and lost the case.

Avoid all those grey areas - sign nothing until your attorney has vetted your sale agreement for both certainty and enforceability!

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Source: www.dotnews.co.za