Media Statement
21 August 2020
LRC secures court order required for an elderly couple to regain legal title to
their home
After protracted litigation, the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) yesterday secured the final court order from the Pietermaritzburg High Court, which allows for the conveyancing process to commence and for our clients’ legal title to their family home to be restored.
Our clients were the registered, joint owners of their homes in Northern KZN when they fell prey to the Brusson Scheme’s unlawful practices. The couple responded to an advertisement by the Scheme offering loans to people who were blacklisted and suffered due to a poor credit record. They were advised that their property would be used as security against the loan but unbeknownst to them, the document they signed was in fact an offer to sell their home.
The Brusson Scheme took money from investors, who then became the new owners of the property, who in turn mortgaged the property with a bank. The Brusson Scheme was held to be fraudulent and the courts have usually ordered that the owner of the property defrauded by Brusson is entitled to the restitution of the property. LRC has
assisted, and continues to assist, a number of clients who have fallen prey to this Scheme.
Although LRC was able to obtain an order on behalf of our clients in 2017 declaring that the bond registered over the property would be canceled, the investors who had taken ownership of the property could not be found. Without the investors, the property could not be transferred back into our clients’ names since the investors are required to
sign transfer documents.
After instructing a private investigator who was unable to locate the investors, LRC applied to the court for an order that the investors be served by way of substituted service. No opposition was received from the investors after they were served in the newspaper and on Facebook. The final order required for the transfer to be effected included an
order allowing the sheriff to sign the transfer documents, given that the investors could not be found.
