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Owners beware – you have limited time to claim for defects to your house

15 January 2024

You have been living in your new house for a year or two when the issues start – cracks, and... more cracks – all serious and structural. So, can you hold the previous owner liable for this, or have you waited too long?

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Latent defects, prescription and your newly bought home

29 November 2023

Home buyers are often worried about the risk of discovering a latent defect after they have bought a home, particularly... where sellers may have gone to some length to hide the defects to get the house sold. In this article we take a look at the role prescription plays when discovering defects and how this may affect the buyer’s ability to take steps against a seller.

180

Article

Prescription and claims against organs of state

28 February 2023

Claims against the state may arise from several causes of action. Importantly though, it must be remembered that claims against... any organ of state are also subject to prescription, and care should be taken to not let your claim prescribe. In this article, we examine the current legal position in respect of prescription and claims against the state.

248

Article

When do maintenance obligations prescribe?

20 May 2021

My ex-husband has for some time now not paid his maintenance as per the court order. Because I had a... job and was earning a basic income, I just left it as I didn’t want the hassle of trying to get him to pay. Now I’ve been retrenched and have asked him to pay his outstanding maintenance, but he refuses and says his attorney told him that his obligation to pay has prescribed. Surely this can’t be right?

337

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