Miltons Matsemela November newsletter
Category NEWSLETTER
Closing Down the Guesthouse Next Door: Notes for Owners & Neighbours
“You can be a good neighbour only if you have good neighbours” (Howard E. Koch, playwright)
You decide – for whatever reason – that your neighbour’s new guesthouse is definitely not first prize in your sleepy and peaceful suburb, so you investigate.
You find out that the local municipal zoning scheme doesn’t allow anyone to trade as a guesthouse without a special departure permit, and that your neighbour doesn’t have one.
What are your rights and what must you prove to get assistance from our courts? Must you prove, for example, that you have suffered some form of damage or is it enough to prove only the lack of a permit?
A recent High Court decision illustrates, and would-be guesthouse owners as well as their neighbours should take note.
Author: Miltons Matsemela
