DEAR CLIENT PLEASE NOTE THAT THE AREA TELEPHONE CABLES HAVE BEEN STOLEN – KINDLY CONTACT US ON THE FOLLOWING E-MAIL ADDRESSES, ALTERNATIVELY THE MOBILE NUMBERS BELOW:

• Director : Ian Miller - ian@imlaw.co.za / 082 902 6015
• Office Manager : Marijke Wagner - marijke@imlaw.co.za / 084 299 4414
• Accounts Administrator : Lucy Corte-Real - lucy@imlaw.co.za

WE APOLOGISE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE HEREIN.

Recent Achievements

• The Firm is proud to announce the appointment of Marijke Wagner as the Practice Manageress and Lucy Corte-Real as the Accounts Administrator;
• Coming soon : new association with IRENE PROPERTY BROKERS and new WILLS REGISTRY.

NEWSLETTER : 1 AUGUST 2011

The year is speeding by and the winter months are nearly over. The last few months have been tough again in the economy with little help from all the public holidays which cause a massive dip in productivity in every sector of business.

Although interest rates remain low, the lending policies of the banks remain so stringent that consumers are still struggling to get loans approved and this is having an effect on sales by individuals and deals by developers to construct and develop new ground.
There have been some significant pieces of legislation which have come into effect and which over the coming months will definitely begin to have an impact on the legal industry. The main challenges lie in the new Companies Act which consolidates legal entities and sees the end of Close Corporations in favour of a Limited liability entity and also places Directors at risk in their dealings as such. The legislation has taken so long to be implemented but the true challenge is for the DTI to ensure that the CIPRO systems are working and that registrations and keeping of information is improved.

The second piece of legislation which will surely affect almost every industry is the new Consumer Protection Act and this came into effect on 1 April 2011. The act covers a multitude of situations and even impacts on the property industry in the sense that the relationship of Agent and Seller will be subject to the act. The act also impacts leases and purchase of a property from a developer. Auctions are also dealt with extensively in the act and the process and form of auctions is now covered in the act. It does still appear that the legislature these days, prefers to invoke the legislation and then only begin to consider problems and tries to address these with amended acts and regulations and the same can be said for this piece of legislation.

It is expected that there will be increased litigation and precedents to emerge in the coming months as the corporates begin to deal with the impact of the act and also as consumers become wiser of the provisions.
Agreements under the new act will become clearer in form and there is a definite opportunity for attorneys to offer a review of current contracts to establish if they need to be amended in accordance with the new provisions. Our Firm is currently reviewing sale and lease agreements as well as commission and mandate agreements for estate agents. Please make use of the service being offered to ensure that you comply going forward as the ramifications of non-compliance are extensive. The client base of the firm is such that we act for a number of prominent developers and no doubt these contracts for new and future developments will be revised and we have already started the process of developing new contracts which are both compliant and state of the art for consumers using them in the future.

On the general front it is still a concern of the writer that lawyers continue to increase in number but the service levels and expertise coming into the market or even still in the market post the recession leaves a lot to be desired. There are many attorneys that offer very little in the way of service and yet are still representing some of the larger institutions. Is it not time for these corporates to consider the level of expertise and really try to partner with the right attorneys instead of merely relying on reputation? The writer would submit that here are a lot of talented firms with excellent service offering and that are hungry to show the corporates that they can perform to a superior level than larger firms.

The Firm continues to perform well and is making careful progress in its growth and development. We are going through a phase of implementation of better software systems to keep up to date with latest trends in business and the Firm is also starting to increase its staff compliment with skilled and dedicated personnel.

We are determined to make an impact in the coming months and clients can be assured that we take nothing for granted when it comes to service and going the extra mile. We are seeing an improvement in the process of e-filing at SARS and thanks to extensive effort we are getting consistent results with transfer duty receipts. We also have an excellent relationship with local authorities and our clearance certificate delivery is increasingly effective in the Gauteng area.

The Firm also now has ties with a local Property broking company in Irene and is in the development stages of a venture relating to wills, which hopes to offer a product to every person which will be useful and hugely beneficial in the estate planning side.
We wish our clients a warm and productive winter and look forward to being of active and committed service in the months to come. Please do not hesitate to visit our website and feel free visit our unique offices for a consultation and advice.

Regards
Ian Miller