The short answer
Use a mediator or a Master of the High Court to help resolve the disagreements.
The whole question
Dear Athalie
Our late parents left a will granting joint ownership of a family home to us, their six children. From the start, there were disagreements about how to manage the property. Since most of us already have our own homes – some in rural areas, others in towns – opinions differed.
Some siblings felt strongly that the family “must have a home” to host traditional ceremonies and maintain our roots. Others believed the property should be rented out to long-term tenants so that the income could cover maintenance and municipal costs. A few siblings stayed silent or were undecided, and nothing happened.
Years later, the municipal bill has grown with interest, the buildings are deteriorating, and the property is falling into disrepair. Sadly, some of our siblings have since passed away, and the home our parents left is at risk of being auctioned to cover debts.
How do other families handle situations like this, where shared inheritance leads to conflict or neglect? Is there any practical way to save the property before it’s too late?
The long answer
Basically, the choice is between selling the house and splitting the proceeds, or renting out the property and splitting the rental income. Since all the siblings have an equal share in the house, the ones who wish to keep the house in the family can buy out the shares of the ones that wish to rent out the house. The executor of your parents’ deceased estate would need to get a professional appraisal of the house to know what a fair market price is for the house and make the necessary arrangements.
Have you tried to set up a meeting of the siblings, led by a person everyone respects? Such a meeting is more likely to be successful if the basis is that there must be an agreement reached by the end of the meeting.
(This relates to a method practised in only a few places in the world as yet, called “direct democracy”: people are selected randomly in a particular locality and are notified that they must attend a meeting on an appointed day and thrash out named problems confronting the area. There may be both rich and poor people in the meeting and people with sharply opposing views. No one may leave before a compromise is reached and decisions taken. Thereafter the decisions are relayed to the relevant municipality, which must implement them.)
You could also employ a professional mediator to get the siblings to reach a decision to avoid the property from being auctioned off to cover the ballooning municipal debt.
The Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA), a non-profit dispute resolution authority that manages a wide range of disputes through mediation, has a branch in Mthatha. You could get the Mthatha branch contact details by contacting the Eastern Cape Regional contact at 044 630 0800.
You could also ask the Master of the High Court (who oversees the administration of deceased estates) to convene a meeting with the executor and siblings and advise. These are the contact details of the Master of the High Court: Mthatha, Eastern Cape:
Head of Office: Mr Simon C Jozana
Tel: 047 531 2120 or 047 532 3432/ 3564
Email: [email protected]
Physical Address: Holy Cross Building, No 7 Craister Street, Mthatha, 5099
Wishing you the best,
Athalie
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Answered on Nov. 5, 2025, 4:06 p.m.
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