Spat over ‘illegal’ sale of house heads to court

Pretoria woman has taken the new “owner” of her house to court, alleging the house was sold illegally after someone stole her identity.

An application by home owner Hilda Godwin seeking the eviction of Kgaogelo Jacqueline Ramalepe from her house in Lotus Gardens has been referred for the presentation of oral evidence in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

Godwin alleged in court papers she was still the owner of the property and had never sold it to Ramalepe. She claimed an unknown person had stolen her identity and used a false identity document to sell her house to Ramalepe in what amounted to a fraudulent transaction.

Ramalepe opposed the application on the basis there had been no duty on her to ascertain the true identity of the seller. She maintained she had no reason to doubt the identity of the seller when she entered the purchase agreement.

The seller had an identity document and the title deed of the property in her possession.

Godwin said it was clear that Ramalepe was not convinced that she was the true Hilda Elizabeth Godwin. She also disputed her claim that she had not given anyone power of attorney to transfer her house to someone else.

Ramalepe further disputed that Godwin was the victim of identity theft and that a false identity document had been used to obtain all of her information.

The court will hear oral evidence to determine if Godwin had, in fact, sold the property to Ramalepe, if Ramalepe had purchased the property from the lawful owner and if the person who sold it had pretended to be Godwin – if Godwin’s identity had, in fact, been stolen.

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