What first seemed to be a typical landlord/ tenant relationship that had turned sour, has now turned ugly, as the tenant is now claiming that the house that she has been living in for years, is actually hers, much to the surprise of the landlord.
The landlord or co-owner, Savitri Pillay of Mustard Street, Laudium, who together with her four sisters owns the house on Turquoise Street, Laudium, which is occupied by a tenant is facing difficulty in trying to evict the tenant from the property. The house on Turquoise Street belonged to her late father and the title deed has since been transferred to Savitri and her four sisters. Despite having all the paperwork and the title deed to show that she and her sisters do indeed own the Turquoise Street property, the tenant, Violet Mbokane, who has been residing at the property for some years now, told the Laudium Sun that the house actually belongs to her. However, when the Laudium Sun asked for proof of ownership of the Turquoise Street house, Violet failed to provide any documentation or explain why she believes that she is the owner of the house.
legally belongs to Savitri and her 4 sisters.
Savitri told the Laudium Sun, “When my father was alive he lived at that time in another house, although my father owned the house on Turquoise Street. When my father passed on, there was someone staying at that house just to take care of the house, so we left them to stay on because we did not want the house to be vacant as it would risk nyaope and other undesirable people occupying the house and stripping the basic things in the house, such as electrical wiring, doors or even the plumbing in the house. Those people who were taking care of the house later left and they placed Violet Mbokane as a tenant and also for her to take care of the house. But now we see that Violet wants to take the house over. How can it be like that? She has never asked us for permission and in fact never asked us for anything, but we five sisters are still living, so she should have asked us if she needed anything. And when she took the house, she said there would be no family living with her. Now we find out that Violet is living there with her family and when we reached out to her to move out of the house, as we want to sell the house, then Violet all of a sudden claimed that she is the owner of the house. How is it possible, because we have all the paperwork and the title deeds from my father. When we tried to reach out to her, Violet said that she cannot recognise us and that she does not know who we are and that we are not the owners of the house. This is very painful for us as a family, because we know the history of the house and how ownership changed from our father to us, but now someone else is claiming something that does not belong to them. Now we want the house back, or if Violet wants to buy the house, then she can buy the house from us. We do not want to go and make her life difficult because we can if we want as we have many lawyers lining up to take on our matter which is straight forward and we can give her a tough time. But, we want to settle this matter in a nice way so that we can give her a time to leave the house and then we can sell it. We are not trying to fight or create problems, we are just asking for what rightfully belongs to us as a family. We tried to reach her many times, but she refused speaking to us, so our only option for communication is putting our story in the Laudium Sun so that Violet can know that we do not want to make her life difficult. We believe that this matter can be resolved peacefully if there is proper communication and understanding from both sides. We are willing to give her time and space to make arrangements, but we also need her to respect us as owners of the property and respect that we can sell our property. We are hoping that Violet will come to us after reading this article and settle this matter in a proper and respectful manner. We are not asking for anything unreasonable, we are simply asking her to either buy the house legally if she wishes to stay, or to evacuate the house so that we can proceed with our plans to sell it. This situation has gone on for too long, and it is causing stress and frustration for the family. We hope that by bringing up this matter openly, a solution will be found soon and the house can be returned to its rightful owners without any further conflict.”
Naransamy Begnasalam, the husband of Savitri Pillay and a resident of Mustard Street, Laudium told the Laudium Sun, “The house on Turquoise Street belongs to my wife and her four sisters. They are now elderly and no longer have the strength or energy to keep struggling over a property for which they already have all the legal documentation in place. The ownership of the house is clearly supported by proper paperwork, leaving no uncertainty regarding their legal rights to the property. Violet Mbokane is contesting something that does not belong to her and has no valid documents to support her claim. There is no evidence to justify her assertion of ownership, making the situation frustrating and complicated for the family. The matter has been unnecessarily prolonged. My father-in law had initially allowed certain individuals to stay at the property to look after it. Those individuals later vacated the house and placed Violet there as a tenant to continue looking after the property. Over time, instead of merely acting as a caretaker, Violet began claiming ownership of the house. This conduct is unfair and unacceptable, going against the original arrangement and the understanding of the family. The house was entrusted to caretakers in good faith, with the expectation that it would be maintained and looked after, not taken over. The current situation represents a misuse of that trust and has caused unnecessary tension for the rightful owners. The continued occupation of the house under a false claim has prevented my wife and her sisters from selling the property. Violet must vacate the house as soon as possible to allow the family to regain control. If she wishes to remain on the property, she can negotiate a purchase price with the rightful owners. The aim is to resolve the matter respectfully and peacefully. The family seeks a fair resolution without unnecessary conflict while ensuring that their legal rights and the integrity of the property are fully upheld.”
said the Turquoise Str house belongs to his wife and her 4 sisters.
Violet Mbokane, the occupier of the house on Turquoise Street, told the Laudium Sun, “I cannot say much, because the house belongs to me. If a thorough investigation is done by the people from Mustard Street, they will find out that I am the owner of the house. I don’t have to answer to anyone and I am not obliged to show any documents to prove ownership. I claim full ownership of the house on Turquoise Street and I have the right to reside here and I stand firm in my stance.”
of the house on Turquoise Street and I have
the right to reside here and I stand firm in my
stance.”