Repo frenzy hits SA

Government appears to have little concern for the plight of South Africans now at risk of losing their houses and cars.

It was disclosed in Transaction Capital’s recent year-end results that as at June 2020, 23% of vehicle and mortgage accounts were in arrears, as were 77% of unsecured lending accounts.

‘Humanitarian crisis’

“This is a humanitarian crisis and yet we continue like it’s business as usual, as if consumers fell into arrears out of their own neglect,” says King Sibiya, CEO of Lungelo Ditokelo Human Rights Foundation, which provides legal defence against unlawful evictions by the banks.

Sibiya says the foundation has seen a spike in attempts to repossess homes in the last few months.

“People have lost their jobs, or suffered a drop in income, and now they are supposed to be able to catch up on arrears or face eviction. Where is the justice in all this?”

Sibiya is lobbying to prevent any South African facing foreclosure from having their cases heard without legal representation.

He says more than 80% of repossession cases result in default judgments – meaning the person puts up no legal defence.

One of the reasons for this is that the banks are still up to their old tricks of suing customers in the high court, despite being ordered by judges to take their cases to the much more affordable magistrates’ courts.

Consumer advocates say the practice of banks suing in the high courts is a denial of access to justice, and it’s time for judges to stop this practice.

As Moneyweb previously reported in The days of banks suing you in the high court are over, there’s simply not enough money in it for banks’ lawyers to pursue cases in the magistrates’ courts. If Sibiya gets his way, so-called default judgments may become a thing of the past.

“This has got to stop, and it’s got to stop now,” he says.

Research by DIW Berlin analysed the worldwide response to rents and mortgages to the Covid crisis.

“At least 25 countries have introduced or announced measures at national or regional level worldwide to protect tenants and property owners who have been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

“The most popular measure is the suspension of evictions (19 countries), followed by the suspension of mortgage interest and principal payments (15 countries),” it states.

“In 12 countries, the moratorium on evictions is accompanied by mortgage approvals. Rental stops are only available or planned in nine countries. Subsidies to tenants or landlords are granted in four countries.”

The suspension of evictions in SA lasted just three months and has since been lifted.

The advice from consumer advocate Leonard Benjamin: use the opportunity that has been presented by being summonsed to have your day in court.

“The foreclosure process requires the banks to bring an application for foreclosure before a judge,” he says. “The application must be served personally on the consumer, unless a court allows some other manner of service.

“This allows every consumer the opportunity of placing evidence about their circumstances before a judge,” says Benjamin.

“They can do so by filing an affidavit, or even attending the court on the day of the hearing to tell their side of the story.

“At the hearing the judge is required to consider all relevant circumstances before granting an order that allows the bank to sell the consumer’s home. If the consumer does not use the opportunity, all the court has before it to make a decision is what the bank tells it, which is understandably self-serving and paints the consumer in the most unfavourable light.”

The court has to listen

He adds: “People were pushed into arrears through no fault of their own as a result of the lockdown and that is a factor that the court has to take into account, particularly when the conduct of their account was exemplary prior to the unprecedented events of the past few months.

“In addition, if their finances have recovered even partially, they must start paying what they can, as soon as possible, even if they cannot pay the arrears that the banks are demanding.

“In fact, this is probably the single most important bit of advice that I can give consumers, since judges view such attempts in a very positive light.”

Benjamin adds that the three-month repayment holidays announced at the start of the lockdown were nothing more than a PR stunt.

“Three months’ relief in the context of a 20-year bond is meaningless. In addition, because, with the frequency of the interest rate adjustments during lockdown, missed instalments were rendered nugatory [of no importance].”

This article first appeared on Moneyweb and was republished with permission.

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