It’s a really exciting time, buying a house, particularly if it’s your first! Don’t forget, however, that you will have to pay a variety of costs over and above the purchase price. What are those costs and when must you pay them? Do they impact your ability to afford the house you have your eye on?
We’ll address those questions with a checklist of costs you should budget for. It’s a good idea to work these into a cash flow forecast so you aren’t ambushed by any unpleasant financial surprises during the transfer process.

The rewards of company directorship come with a caution: the duties and responsibilities imposed on you by the Companies Act need constant management. Drop the ball on that and you could face some seriously negative consequences. We’ll discuss one of those risks – the career-threatening risk of being declared a “delinquent” director – in the context of two recent court judgments which involved large amounts of money, seriously disaffected stakeholders, and 7-year bans from holding any position at director or senior management level. We’ll end by sharing some thoughts on how you can manage those risks.

Unpaid levies can leave body corporates out of pocket and out of patience. When conventional debt recovery feels too slow, sequestration may seem like the obvious next step. But a recent High Court judgment is a reminder that sequestration is not a debt-collection shortcut. The court refused an application by a body corporate that had failed to meet the strict statutory requirements. Before reaching for the nuclear option, body corporates should understand what the law actually requires.

Your will must always lie at the heart of your estate planning. But don’t concentrate solely on the financial wellbeing of your family after you are gone. The personal legacy you leave them is also important. It focuses on your family’s values, history and heritage, supporting your heirs in living their lives to the fullest while preserving and enjoying the material wealth they inherit from you. But how do you create a personal legacy that will last for generations, and how does this fit into your overall estate planning? We share some practical suggestions on how to get started…

Phew! No major tax increases are planned, and taxpayers will benefit from zero “bracket creep” across a range of taxes. While property sellers and buyers will be disappointed that transfer duty thresholds have not increased, there’s reason to get very excited about the 50% increase in the primary residence CGT exclusion from R2m to R3m.

Read on for an illustrative calculation of CGT savings, some of the more important tax tables, and a calculator to show you how much more or less you will be paying in taxes.

You buy a second-hand vehicle and finance it through a bank. When you realise the vehicle is a complete lemon, you cancel the sale and return the vehicle. But the bank still wants its monthly instalments.
We have good news for you. The Supreme Court of Appeal has just held that a bank in that situation was, per the terms of its own agreement, the “supplier” of the vehicle and must refund to the buyer both the deposit and the monthly instalments she had paid it. How did that come about, and what must you prove to win your case?

Buying and selling a house is probably one of the most important financial transactions you will ever be involved in. Not to mention the emotional aspect of acquiring or letting go of your “home sweet home”.
This is why it’s vital to choose the right conveyancer. Case in point, a recent court battle which saw a couple losing ownership of what they had fondly believed to be their new house. A crooked attorney, in cahoots with her trustee husband, had defrauded both the original owner and the buyers at the end of the transfer chain. And in law, “fraud unravels all.”

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) for each “ordinary hour worked” has been increased from 1 March 2026 by 5% from R28,79 per hour to R30,23 per hour. Domestic workers: Assuming…

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“Landlords grow rich in their sleep.” (John Stuart Mill, economist) If you are thinking of buying (or already own) a house or apartment in a residential complex with the idea…

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