The Western Cape High Court has ordered a family to leave a luxury rented home in Camps Bay, Cape Town. The tenants held back more than R1.4 million in rent during a dispute over maintenance.
Acting Judge Waheeda Amien granted the eviction order against the tenant, her husband, their children and other people living in the house. The judgment was delivered on 12 October 2026, IOL reported.
The family must leave by 1pm on 30 November 2026. If they do not, the sheriff may evict them on 2 December, with police help if needed.
According to the judgment, owner Tania dos Santos Sousa Costa signed a lease with the tenant in July 2020. The deal was arranged through the rental agency Remax Living.
The lease was extended a few times. The last extension, signed in March 2023, ran from 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2027. Rent rose from R60,000 a month to R62,500 in August 2025 and R65,000 in August 2026.
In 2024 the tenant complained that the owner was not looking after the property. From August 2024 she stopped paying rent to the owner. She paid money into her lawyers’ trust account instead.
Her lawyers showed that R393,000 had been deposited into that account. The court said it was not clear how much of it was still there. By June 2026, unpaid rent had reached R1,407,500.
The owner also claimed the tenant had sublet part of the house without her permission. She said the home had been used for business purposes too.
On 4 March 2025 the owner sent a notice saying that holding back rent broke the lease. The tenant was given seven days to pay R300,000 and stop subletting without consent.
The problem was not fixed. On 26 March 2025 the owner cancelled the lease and told the family to leave by 30 April 2025. They stayed, and the owner went to court.
The family argued that the Consumer Protection Act applied. Under that law, they said, they should have had 20 business days to fix the breach. They claimed the owner rented out the home to pay her children’s school fees.
The owner had moved to Angola for work. Amien found that renting out a home for income did not mean the owner ran a rental business. She called the lease a once-off deal, so the Act did not apply.
The judge also rejected the claim that the cancellation notice was invalid. She found the lease was properly cancelled and that the family was living there unlawfully.
The tenant had also asked the Western Cape Rental Housing Tribunal for a 30% rent cut. On 19 August 2026 the tribunal turned down that request. It ordered the family to give the owner and her contractors reasonable access to inspect and repair the house.
Amien said there might be maintenance problems. But she said the owner had not been given reasonable access to check them and plan repairs.
The court had to decide if the eviction was fair under the law against illegal evictions. The judge said the family gave little information about their finances. They also did not fill in a City of Cape Town form used to check if people would become homeless.
The court looked at the home’s location, income allegedly earned from subletting and the tenant’s earlier offer to buy the house for R11 million. Amien found the family could afford another place to live.
The judge gave the family until the end of November because the eldest child is in Grade 12. Final exams for Grade 12 learners are due to end by 27 November 2026.
The court ordered the tenant and her husband to pay the legal costs of the case.
Source: this article is based on reporting by IOL. Image: IOL. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.