My late grandmother's council house was taken over by my sister, who has evicted me twice and likely doesn't pay rent. How can I get her out?

The long answer

There are a number of questions here:

1. Did your grandmother buy the house from the council? If she did buy the house, is it possible that she left it to your sister in her will? Otherwise, how was it possible for your sister to evict you, assuming she went the legal route and got an eviction notice from the court? 

If it was left to your sister in your grandmother’s will, she would need to get the title deed transferred to her before the house could be legally hers. 

2. If your grandmother did buy the house, but did not leave a will, the Intestate Succession Act would apply. That means that the family would inherit in this order: first surviving spouses, then children and children of pre-deceased children, then other descendants.

So, if you and your sister were the closest family left, you would both inherit the house equally. That means neither of you could evict the other. If this is the case, you may need to arrange to sit down with your sister and a person that you both respect, and reach an agreement about how the house is to be shared and what rules are to be followed. 

If you don’t know anybody, you could ask to help you with this, you could ask an organisation like FAMSA (Families South Africa) to advise you about their counselling services. They have free counselling with trained community members at offices throughout the Western Cape. These are their contact details for their head office in Observatory:

Address: 295 Lower Main, Observatory

Telephone: 021 447 7951 

General queries email: [email protected] 

You could also ask an organisation like the Black Sash, which gives free paralegal advice, for assistance. These are their contact details:

Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

Tel (national office): 021 686 6952

Helpline: 072 66 33 73, 072 633 3739 or 063 610 1865

3. If your grandmother was still renting the house at the time of her death, have you been paying the rent since she died? 

4. Is it possible that the tenancy is still in your grandmother’s name? 

If she was renting the house when she died, the tenancy agreement would come to an end automatically with her death. A new tenancy agreement would have to be made with the municipality. Although family members do not automatically have the right to take over the tenancy, the municipality is usually willing to let a family member who is already living there continue to live there and take over the tenancy in their name. 

Perhaps the place to start is to go to your nearest housing estate office, which processes council housing applications, and ask whose name the rental agreement is in. You could tell them you want to take over the tenancy or rental agreement in your name. You would need to take documents like your grandmother’s death certificate and proof of your family relationship with her.

If you are based in Cape Town, you could contact the City of Cape Town’s Public Housing Department for advice. These are their contact details:

Telephone: 021 444 0333

WhatsApp: 063 299 9927

Email: [email protected]

You may also be interested in exploring this option: 

In October 2022, the mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, announced a new scheme called the No Cost Transfer Programme, to help tenants to become owners of their council houses. Before this, tenants could buy their houses from the City, but they needed to pay half the transfer costs themselves, and those costs can be very high. Hill-Lewis said that the City would now keep the transfer costs at R2,500 no matter how much the property cost, to assist people to become homeowners. The City would also write off previous rent and municipal arrears where these were higher than the national housing subsidy.

Wishing you the best,
Athalie