Property seller loses appeal after concealing land defect

A PRETORIA property owner has lost his appeal against a ruling which ordered the reimbursement of R600 000 to the buyer in a defective land sale. The appeal was dismissed by the Gauteng High Court.

- SINENHLANHLA MASILELA [e-mail]

The appeal came after the high court ruled in 2023 that the seller and director of Bondcor, Werner Serfontein, failed to disclose the latent defect on the land and should refund the buyer. The buyer, Daphney Chuma, has been embroiled in a legal battle with Serfontein after buying vacant land in Centurion in September 2017.

She paid the deposit in the amount of R270 000 and eventually settled the R600000 amount which was the purchase price. She also paid a little over R17 000 for transfer fees and over R20000 in respect of rates and taxes and other municipal services.

Chuma's dreams of developing the land quickly turned into a nightmare when the municipality disclosed that there were no approved building plans and the land lay on unstable dolomitic ground, necessitating a costly stability investigation.