As an estate agent, Kruger should have known that a property can only be transferred and registered in the name of the buyer once the conveyancing attorney has received payment into a trust account, says Hawks spokesperson Dineo Sekgotodi.Delays
In 2021, the police appealed to the public for information on the whereabouts of Van Staden, who was later tracked down and arrested before being released on bail. The most serious complaint relates to the fraudulent advertising and sale of homes without permission from the owners and pocketing money into the estate agent’s business trust account.Human rights organisations such as the Lungelo Lethu Human Rights Foundation have argued for years that criminal syndicates are buying repossessed homes for next to nothing, with the connivance of sheriffs, crooked lawyers, estate agents and ‘investors’.
Consumer activist and lawyer Leonard Benjamin says a large percentage of home repossession cases coming before the courts involve fictitious arrears claimed by the banks, often fattened by admin and unapproved legal fees or improperly sold home insurance policies.