QUESTION

A client of yours purchased acommercial property recently.Two weeks after taking occupation of the building, your clientreceived a letter from the local authority indicating that the car ports on the property were illegal structuresas a building plan hadnever been submitted to the local authorityindicating that the car ports were to be erected.In addition, the letter from the local authority also indicated that an extension that had been added to the ground floor ten years prior was also illegal as a building plan had also never been submitted and approved by the local authority.

Your client discussed the matter with the seller of the building and the seller told your client, that the illegal extension that the local authority referred to was undertaken by the original owner of the building who had initially erected the building.The seller, had however, erected the car ports on the property.

Your client also tells you that he had not requested a building plan from the seller during the negotiations preceding the conclusion of the sale.

Your client now requests your advice as to how to respond to the local authority and the seller.

In your response, you are required to refer to relevant legislation, case law and any other academically acceptable source, like journal articles.

Guidelines:

When answering a legal problem, it is suggested that you follow the following

outline:

a.State the problem - what is the problem that you are dealing with

in the question?

b.State the law - what does the law say about the problem that we are dealing with?This is the value of using the case law as it enables you to look back at previous cases and see what the courts did when a similar problem has arisen before.

c.Apply the law to the facts - can the law be applied to the current situation or problem that you are discussing?If so, what would the outcome be?

d.Come to a conclusion - arrive at a conclusion paying due regard to points a, b and c above.