Cape Town Family Ordered to Vacate Camps Bay Home After Withholding R1.4 Million in Rent

A family living in a luxury Camps Bay home has been ordered to vacate the property by the end of November after withholding more than R1.4 million in rent over a dispute about alleged maintenance problems.

Acting Judge Waheeda Amien granted an eviction order against the tenant, identified as A, her husband, their children and other occupants, ruling that the lease had been validly cancelled and that they had no legal right to remain in the property. The Western Cape High Court ordered the family to leave by 1pm on 30 November 2026. If they fail to do so, the sheriff is authorised to evict them on 2 December, with South African Police Service assistance if necessary. The judgment was delivered on 12 October 2026.

According to the judgment, the property owner, Tania dos Santos Sousa Costa, entered into a written lease agreement with A in July 2020, facilitated by rental agency Remax Living. The tenancy was extended through several addendums, with a final agreement signed in March 2023 extending the lease for three years, from 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2027. Under the extended agreement, the monthly rental increased from R60,000 for the first year to R62,500 from August 2025, and R65,000 from August 2026.

The tenant raised complaints during 2024 about what she alleged was the owner's failure to properly maintain the property, and subsequently withheld rental payments from August 2024, depositing money into the trust account of her attorneys instead. The judgment states that her attorneys provided a payment schedule indicating that R393,000 had been deposited into their trust account, although it was unclear how much of that money remained at the time of the proceedings. By June 2026, the outstanding rental for the period from August 2024 to June 2026 amounted to R1,407,500. The owner also alleged that A had sublet part of the property to other occupants without her consent and had allowed it to be used for commercial purposes.

On 4 March 2025, the owner issued a notice informing the tenant that withholding rent constituted a material breach of the lease, giving seven days to remedy it, including a payment of R300,000 towards the rental arrears and an undertaking to stop subletting without consent. After the breach remained unresolved, a cancellation notice was issued on 26 March 2025 requiring the occupants to vacate by 30 April that year. The occupants opposed the eviction application, arguing that the Consumer Protection Act applied to the lease and that they were entitled to 20 business days to remedy the breach. Amien found that renting out the property to generate income did not automatically mean the owner was conducting a rental business, that the owner was not in the business of letting property for consideration and that the lease was a once-off transaction rather than part of a rental housing portfolio. The Consumer Protection Act therefore did not apply to the agreement.