Creditors: How to Secure Your Claim with a Notarial Bond

Creditors: How to Secure Your Claim with a Notarial Bond

You should always take as much security for your claims as you possibly can before advancing credit or lending money to a debtor. That’s because if your debtor fails and is “liquidated” (if a corporate) or “sequestrated” (if an individual), without security you will have only a concurrent claim in the estate. And with a concurrent claim, you will be lucky to get back more than a few cents in the Rand, because you will rank right at the bottom of the ladder after both secured creditors and preferent creditors (employees, SARS etc). So, first prize is always to hold…
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Buying And Selling Property:  The Bond Clause Blues, And How To Beat Them

Buying And Selling Property: The Bond Clause Blues, And How To Beat Them

“Men keep agreements when it is to the advantage of neither to break them” (Solon, Athenian lawgiver c. 638 BC - 559 BC) Here’s the story of yet another High Court battle over a disputed property sale agreement.  A fight over how to interpret the “bond clause” again highlighted how vital it is to clearly express the intentions of both the seller and the buyer in every word of the agreement. A seller gets cold feet (the facts) The seller sold a property to the buyer for R1,62m, payable on registration of transfer. The bond clause made the sale conditional…
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