Welcome to the Legal Advice Office in South Africa

• lease agreements
• termination of lease
• Commercial lease agreement
• cancel lease agreement

You can not just pack up and move out.

The termination or cancellation of a commercial lease agreement/s is always a legal conundrum.

One of the matters that we specialise in is Consumer law and also in lease agreement cancellations and terminations.

It is a contract and must be dealt with correctly and legally if you want to cancel it or terminate it prematurely ie before its expiry date.

You cannot just cancel a lease agreement.

If you breach the lease and simply vacate and abandon the premises the High Court can grant the landlord an order for specific performance.

This can mean that the court orders you to return to the premises and pay the rental for the balance of the lease period. Alternatively, it can allow the landlord the right to cancel the lease because of your breach and grant an order for damages in favour of the landlord being equivalent to the rent due for the balance of the period.

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• Consumer Law
• Consumer Protection
• Defective motor vehicle
• Common Law
• defective vehicle

What are your rights when your vehicle breaks again as a result of soddy workmanship?

We still get a lot of enquiries from clients and consumers who feel that they have been ripped off.

A recent example was of a client who had his vehicle repaired by a service provider in Welkom in the Orange Free State.

 “My vehicle broke down on the N1 four months ago. I had the vehicle towed to a service centre in Welkom with an oil leak on the Gearbox. They ended up redoing the engine which took more than 4 months. After doing the engine on the vehicle and when it was still in their workshop; there was a bearing knock and they had to redo the engine again. I had already paid them R162 000.00 for this first repair and they then wanted to charge me again for the second repair even though they never returned the vehicle to me and they failed while the vehicle was still with them to repair it properly in the first place in terms of their quote. What are my rights?”

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• Family Law
• Deceased Estate Law
• Testament
• Will
• Adoption
• Inheritance
• Biological Parent

The short answer is no

A week or two ago, The Legal Advice Office got the following query:

 “Can you please assist with advice in this regard?

I have been raised as the only child by parents, who are not my biological parents. Although I regard them as my true parents, I was never formally adopted by them. They are both in ill-health and I don’t think they have a will. They don’t have much, but I am concerned that if they die, I will lose the possessions that they do have. Will I be able to inherit from them when they pass away even if I was never formally adopted?”

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