Combined Summons & Rent Interdict Summons

To provide some insight into the process followed by SSLR Inc. in rental dispute matters is briefly outlined below.

1. Letter Of Demand

With an arrears rental collection matter, we need to start the process by delivering a Letter of Demand in which payment of the outstanding amount is required within 7 days, or as may be otherwise stipulated in the lease agreement.

2. Combined Summons

We will then proceed with a Combined Summons in which we will plead the agreement in Court and initiate a claim for the outstanding amount owing to you.

In cases where the tenant is still occupying the premises, we proceed with a Rental Interdict Summons, in which the tenant is interdicted from removing any assets from the property in accordance with the landlords’ hypothec, as an additional security for the landlord.

The summons will be delivered to the Court for issuance, after which it will be served on the debtor by the Sheriff of the Court.

The tenant then has then 10 business days from service of the summons to defend the matter, by serving a document called a Notice of Intention to Defend.

If the tenant does not defend the matter we can proceed with a Request for Default Judgment, in which the Court is asked to grant the appropriate judgment against the tenant. If this is successful we can proceed to issue a warrant of execution and attach the assets of the tenant. Such assets will then be sold on auction by the Sheriff, in order to recover the outstanding amount.

Should the matter be defended, we will proceed with an Application for Summary Judgment, in which we state that the tenant does not have a valid defence – and that the objective of defending the matter is purely to create a delay. The court will then hear our argument as well as that of the tenant, to decide whether to grant our order or allow the tenant leave to defend. If the tenant is granted leave to defend, the matter will proceed to trial. We endeavour to avoid this, due to cost and timing issues, as a trial will usually take about 2 years to finalise.