How can I evict tenants in my late mother's RDP house who refuse to leave?

The long answer

The letter of authority gives you the right to act on behalf of your mother’s deceased estate, although it doesn’t give you the right to enjoy the benefits of the estate personally. You need the letter of authority to open an estate bank account, pay debts as well as distribute the assets to heirs or beneficiaries. Your late mother’s house legally belongs to the estate until it is transferred into your name, or all the heirs’ names. 

The owner of the RDP house (which is the deceased estate of your late mother) is responsible for paying the money owed for utilities. 

As you represent the estate with the letter of authority, you can initiate the process for evicting the people in the RDP house on the basis of the house owing money for utilities, but the magistrate’s court has to decide whether it is fair and just to grant an eviction order or not. As you probably know, no one in South Africa can be evicted without a court order, under the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from an Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (PIE Act).

The PIE Act lays down the steps that must be followed to evict occupiers of a property: 

• First inform the person/s in writing that they should leave by a specific date, and that if they have not left by that date, you will be seeking a court order to evict them.

• If they don’t leave by the date you specified, you must apply to the court to have a written notice served on the person telling them that you are applying for an eviction order. The court must serve this notice on them at least 14 days before the court hearing. The notice must give the date and time of the hearing, and say what the grounds of the eviction application are. The notice must also inform them that they have the right to oppose the eviction in court and that they can apply for legal aid. 

• The court notice must also be served on the municipality so they can tell the court if they have emergency accommodation that they can make available for the people if they are evicted. 

• At the hearing, the court must listen to both sides and must particularly consider the effect of an eviction on children and elderly people. 

• In the end the court must decide whether an eviction would be just and fair in the circumstances.

• If an eviction order is granted, the court will give a date by which the person/s (unlawful occupier/s) must leave and also the date that they will be evicted by the sheriff of the court if they don’t leave. The sheriff is the only person who is allowed to evict them.

You could contact Legal Aid to ask for further advice about the eviction, or to represent you in court. It is a means-tested government organisation that must help people who can’t afford a lawyer:

• Legal Aid 

Tel: 0800 110 110 (Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm) 

Please-Call-Me: 079 835 7179

Email: communications2@legal-aid.co.za

Wishing you the best,
Athalie