The Consumer Protection Act No 68 of 2008 (CPA) and the Common Law: Cancellation of Lease Agreements:

Prior to the Consumer Protection Act, No 68 0f 2008 (CPA) which came into effect at midnight on the 31^st March 2011; the law of contract and the common law covered the issue of when and how a tenant went about cancelling a lease agreement.

That has all now changed since the commencement date of the CPA; and tenants and landlords need to be aware of the statutory provisions of the Act; which now cover the early termination and cancellation of lease agreements.

The Consumer Protection Act No 68 of 2008 (CPA): Expiry and Renewal of fixed term contracts/agreements, especially Leases. Continued: Section 14 (3) & (4).

Today; to finalise this set of blogs on the above topic; we look at the last two subsections of section 14 dealing with the expiry and renewal of fixed term contracts and once again we will concentrate on leases as this is the most frequent source of enquiry; although the provisions of the whole of section 14 apply to ALL fixed term contracts.

The Consumer Protection Act No 68 of 2008 (CPA):  How it protects buyers of Motor Vehicles and other Major Purchase Consumer Items.

The Consumer Protection Act (CPA), No 68 of 2008, came into operation at midnight on the 31^st March 2011.

It is an extraordinary piece of legislation protecting consumers from all sorts of previously bad business practices.

We, at The Legal Advice Office, get a lot of enquiries from clients and consumers who feel that they have been ripped off especially when it comes to the poor quality of motor vehicles that they have purchased

The Consumer Protection Act: No 68 of 2008: (CPA): Motor Vehicles and Consumer Rights:

The purchase of defective or previously accident damaged motor vehicles seems to be a hot topic at the moment.

Why this would be the situation we are not sure; but in some ways is not surprising.

We have this week looked at the CPA; but today we will look at something completely different and will share with you some tips on the buying of residential property.

Your house is your home and probably your biggest ever investment. It helps to study in detail all aspects of the purchase of a house before making the investment.

There are, in my view, as a previously practising Conveyancer, 6 simple factors that should always be checked out by anyone looking to buy a residential property.

The Consumer Protection Act: No 68 of 2008 (CPA): Section 55: Consumer’s rights to safe, good quality goods.

The Consumer Protection Act, No 68 of 2008; (CPA); which, as mentioned in our last blog, came into effect at midnight on the 31^st March 2011 has changed consumer law in the RSA irrevocably.

There are a number of innovative consumer protection mechanisms in the CPA which are revolutionary in nature.

The Consumer Protection Act No 68 of 2008 (CPA): Section 56 (2): Consumers rights and choices.

We were looking in our last blog at the implied warranty on the quality of goods guaranteed by the Consumer Protection Act and more particularly section 55 ( & 56) of that piece of legislation.

There is still a lot of confusion about the Consumer’s Right to choose a Repair, Replacement or Refund in respect of Damaged or Defective Goods as guaranteed by these sections of the Act.

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?”

Did you buy a lemon? A recap…

On a regular basis, we receive queries in by email or phone where the client states something along these lines…

“I have read your article on your website about “What to do if you have bought a lemon? That is exactly what has happened to me; but please explain in more detail as to what are my legal options now that this has happened to me?”

One of the branches of the Law that we specialise in is Consumer Law, and in particular, we provide quoted advice and legal services regarding the purchase of defective motor vehicles.

Many consumers are under the pump as far as their lease agreements are concerned.

Some private individuals who are leasing from private landlords are struggling to pay high rentals to keep a roof over their own and their family’s heads.

Commercial tenants, who are tied into long term commercial leases with their landlords, are finding it more and more difficult to fulfil their contractual obligations to their landlords as the economy contracts and finances become tighter.

The question then is: What can one do when one is caught in this financial vice?

The answer is not an easy one.

 On Friday last week; I received an email which read:

 “If I have bought a defective, or a previously accident damaged, vehicle; what are my consumer rights and how do I enforce them?”

 This is simply a question but the answer to it; not so simple.

Firstly, you have certain common law rights eg not to be sold a defective “merx” (Item).

However, you also have legislation which protects you In the form of the Consumer Protection Act No 68 of 2008 (CPA)

Your remedies in terms of that Act are set out in Chapter 3.

Goodwill is essential for any business and good service is paramount to keeping your customers.

As Jerry Flanagan said:

“ Customers are like teeth. If you do not look after them, they go away one by one until there are none left.”

It is a pity that so many service providers do not give sufficient attention to their service delivery.

You get a real shock when you find out that an item that you just purchased is not working as it should or is defective and you paid a great deal of money for it.

What do you do if you purchase a defective motor vehicle from a new or second hand vehicle? How does the Consumer Protection Act No 68 of 2008 (CPA) and the common law protect you? What do you need to do and what are the guidelines in this situation?

Because of the number of queries we receive on a weekly basis from our clients with regard to damaged and defective vehicle that they have bought; we are once again going to look at what to do in the situation where you have bought a “lemon” from a motor vehicle dealer.

Hundreds of cars are bought and sold each day in the RSA.

If you bought a vehicle that is either defective or damaged or not fit for its intended purpose; what can you do about it?

Here is a case study.

Many businesses and suppliers blatantly operate outside the legislation and in so doing very often knowingly dupe their customers

We get a lot of enquiries every single week from clients about whether, when and how they can go about returning faulty or damaged goods.It is really disturbing to realise how many suppliers, big and small, continue to ignore the basics of consumer protection and in particular the provisions and duties on suppliers created by the CPA.

Despite the fact that the Consumer Protection Act No 68 of 2008 (CPA) came into force at midnight on the 31^st March 2011; which is more than seven years ago now, many businesses and suppliers continue to operate outside the legislation and some do so blatantly and knowingly very often duping their customers, at the same time, so as to save themselves a great deal of money and effort. Some actions reported to us border on criminal and commercial fraud.

The Consumer Protection Act No 68 of 2008 (CPA): Leases: Some important terms and conditions:

In our last blog we looked at the early termination of lease agreements,

In this blog we intend to renew our acquaintance with some of the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act No 68 of 2008 (CPA) dealing with leases and some of their terms and conditions in general in the CPA.

One of the issues that crops up on a regular basis with The Legal Advice Office are queries and advice sought from us when you have been lied to or, at least, not been told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

If someone sells you an item, for example a motor car, and they do not fully disclose to you any defects in that vehicle that they knew about or should reasonably have known about; then you have certain legal rights and recourse.

The supplier’s written guarantee does not replace the warranty created and contained in the CPA.

A Case Study

In response to our last blog on the consumer’s right to a repair, replacement or refund; we received the following query on Saturday morning.

“I read your blog on section 56(2) of the CPA on Facebook. My situation is different. I bought a new vehicle from a BMW dealer in Benoni in a cash transaction. Within a period of 6 months, the vehicle had to go in for repairs on two occasions, the last time was on the 22^nd March 2018. On both occasions, the dealership repaired the vehicle at their own expense. In both instances; the repairs related to mechanical problems with the vehicle's transmission. In the last week the vehicle has again broken down and I am now at my wit's end. Do I have to allow them to repair the vehicle yet again or can I still insist on a replacement or a refund of my money?”

The Common Law and the Consumer Protection Act: No 68 of 2008 (CPA): Refunds:

At The Legal Advice Office, we often get asked about refunds due to consumers in terms of either the common law or in terms of the CPA.

As a result of yet another two enquiries today regarding firstly, the recent purchase of motor vehicle which was previously involved in a collision (which fact was not disclosed to our client) and secondly, with regard to a vehicle that was bought last month and which quite clearly has numerous material defects which have now become apparent to the purchaser since the date of sale; we thought that we need to explain this issue of when you are entitled to a refund one again today.

“Why is it that we now have legal recourse if we buy a motor vehicle which is defective or which was previously involved in an accident and this fact was not disclosed to us at the time that we bought the vehicle?”

 This is the question we were asked via our website.

The answer to that question is that you have protection depending on the facts in both the common law of contract and also probably/possibly in terms of the Consumer Protection Act: No 68 of 2008 (CPA).

In terms of the common law, you would have to rely on a breach of the contract terms by the seller of the motor vehicle or his/her bad faith, misrepresentation or failure to disclose.