QUESTION

Defects and voetstoots clauses

Mr Muthwa has obtained bond finance through First Republican Bank.The client has taken transfer of the property in August 2020.Since the client has been in the property, he has discovered the following:

1.The wall against which the seller's wall unit was in the lounge has a huge zig-zag crack in it.

2.The buyer has seen some serious damp spots in the second bedroom, which was covered by the curtains in the room.

3.It appears that there is a leak in the roof in the kitchen.

4.There is no hot water coming from the geyser.The buyer has had a plumber in and the plumber says that the geyser is ten years old and needs to be replaced.

5.The front gate does not work and the motor needs to be replaced.The gate company says that it appears that the motor has just recently been repaired as an interim measure to keep it going, but that the seller must have known that the motor needed to be replaced.

The buyer has spoken to the seller about these issues.The seller says that he informed the estate agent about these issues before he gave the agent a mandate and that the buyer must take it up with the agent.The seller also said that, "...in any event, the house was sold voetstoots."

The buyer asked one of First Republican Bank's home loans assessors to come back and look at the property now.The assessor has told you that, in its present state, the house is worth 70% of the value that he initially assessed the property at.

Mr Matthew says that the assessor should have picked up all of these issues previously and that this is all First Republican Bank's fault because he would never had bought the house had he known about these issues.

Advise Mr Matthew accordingly.

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