Stirk Yazbek
attorneys at law
Our Team
Partners Gary Stirk and Matthew Yazbek, with a combined experience of 40 years of legal practice, head up this dynamic law firm established in 2014.
NOTICE:
STIRK YAZBEK ATTORNEYS confirm that Mr Mark Anthony Yazbek of Yazbeks Attorneys I J A Yazbek & Co. passed away on the 29'" June 2017.
STIRK YAZBEK ATTORNEYS, established on 1 March 2014, includes MR MATTHEW ANTHONY YAZBEK the only surviving "Yazbek" who is a continuing practising Attorney and Conveyancer in East London, Eastern Cape Province.
STIRK YAZBEK ATTORNEYS are totally separate from and not associated with Yazbeks Attorneys, its proprietors, employees or associates in all respects, and have not been so since 1 March 2014.
Services
As predominantly civil law practitioners, our professional staff will be happy to assist in, inter alia, Conveyancing transactions, Property Transfers and land sub-divisions, Debt Recovery, Drafting of Wills, Estates, Personal Injury Claims, Insolvency, Ante-nuptial contracts, Contracts, Commercial and Corporate Law and all general litigation matters.
Archived News & Publications
Contact Us
FOR A FREE CONSULTATION
+27 43 726 8310
18 Vincent Road,
Vincent,
East London
Areas of Practice
Civil and Criminal Litigation
Commercial Collections
Commercial and Corporate Law
Conveyancing
Debt Recovery
Family Law
Insolvency Law
Personal Injury Claims
Property Transfers
Trusts
Wills and Estate Planning
October 21, 2020
PROPERTY: DON’T PAY DOUBLE COMMISSION!
“… in certain circumstances the principal may be liable to pay commission to both agents where it is impossible to distinguish between the efforts of one agent and another in terms of causality or degrees of causation.” (Extract from judgment below)
October 14, 2020
HOME BUSINESSES - IS YOURS LEGAL?
The sharp upsurge in businesses operating remotely as a result of the pandemic lockdowns means a lot more people working from home - most presumably in low-profile home offices, but inevitably some in the form of full-on business activities from home. What effect is that having on the property market?
September 22, 2020
PROPERTY SUBSIDENCE
“…every landowner has a right to the lateral support and where subsidence or other destabilisation occurs, as a result of excavations on an adjacent property, the owner of the adjacent property will be liable in an action for damages irrespective of whether she was negligent or not.” (Extract from judgment below)
September 01, 2020
PROPERTY: GREEN SHOOTS, AGENT’S COMMISSION AND FIDELITY FUND CERTIFICATES
“Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate. More money has been made in real estate than in all industrial investments combined. The wise young man or wage earner of today invests his money in real estate” (Andrew Carnegie, billionaire industrialist)
August 18, 2020
BUYING A BUSINESS
“The purpose of the legislature in enacting s 34(1) is to protect creditors by preventing traders who are in financial difficulty from disposing of their business assets to third parties who are not liable for the debts of the business, without due advertisement to all the creditors of the business.” (Extract from judgement below)
August 04, 2020
PROPERTY: DON’T PAY DOUBLE COMMISSION!
“… in certain circumstances the principal may be liable to pay commission to both agents where it is impossible to distinguish between the efforts of one agent and another in terms of causality or degrees of causation.” (Extract from judgment below)
June 09, 2020
Credit life insurance
If you are one of the many employees retrenched or put on short pay or unpaid leave as a result of the COVID-19 crisis and lockdown, you will be wondering how to cover the monthly instalments on your mortgage bond and other credit agreements. You have no doubt heard of the “payment holidays” banks are offering, but remember that although these are a lot better than losing your house, car etc, they are no free lunch. Interest and fees will still be building up.
May 12, 2020
Divorce in time Lockdown
The National Lockdown has thrown together many couples not used to spending “24/7” time in each other’s company. Relationships will have strengthened for many couples, but others will be struggling. The fears, anxieties and money worries now looming over us all certainly won’t haven’t helped.
April 15, 2020
How to stop an Ex-Director from competing
“…the default position is that an executive director or a senior employee may not carry on business activities which fall within the scope of his company’s business during the time when he serves as director or works as employee. The default position however changes on resignation.” (Extract from judgment below)
March 25, 2020
POPIA's one year deadline
Will the main provisions of POPIA (the Protection of Personal Information Act) really commence on 1 April 2020 as media reports suggest, or is this just another case of Crying Wolf? This time it seems it may be the real thing, with the Information Regulator having formally requested the President to declare the commencement date.
December 16, 2019
ALL COMPANIES: PREPARE FOR THE MANDATORY NEW CIPC COMPLIANCE CHECKLIST
The CIPC (Companies and Intellectual Property Commission) has announced that its new “compliance checklist” requirement, voluntary until now, becomes mandatory for all companies and close corporations from 1 January 2020.
November 21, 2019
IT PAYS TO REPORT CRIME! FIRST OFFENDER’S 20 YEARS IN PRISON CONFIRMED FOR R4.9M FRAUD
“The scourge of white collar crime, especially fraud, is currently the order of the day in our country. Fraud is a cancer that is crippling our country from the core and takes away from the poorest of the poor” (extract from judgment below)
October 17, 2019
SECURITY COMPLEXES AND FIBRE
“Reliable electronic communications go beyond just benefiting the commercial interest of licensees to the detriment of ownership of property. The statute [Electronic Communications Act] is designed to avoid this no-winner conflict. What it seeks is to bring our country to the edge of social and economic development for rural and urban residents in a world in which technology is so obviously linked to progress.” (Extract from Constitutional Court decision quoted in the judgment below)
July 18, 2019
AIRBNB OWNERS AND BUYERS – SHOULD YOU BE WORRIED ABOUT THE NEW REGULATIONS?
“While travel on our platform accounts for less than 1 in 8 visitors to South Africa, those guests boosted the economy by R8.7 billion and helped create 22,000 jobs last year alone” and “Regulation is a useful and necessary tool of good policy, but policy comes first. Sadly, the current wording of the draft Bill is very vague and unclear. It indicates the creation of specific regulatory approaches without any explanation of what they are trying to encourage or solve.” (Airbnb)
July 14, 2019
EMPLOYERS: WHAT IS YOUR DUTY TO ACCOMMODATE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?
“The employer has a duty to reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious freedom unless it is impossible to do so without causing itself undue hardship. It is not enough that it may have a legitimate commercial rationale. The duty of reasonable accommodation imposed on the employer is one of modification or adjustment to a job or the working environment that will enable an employee operating under the constraining tenets of her religion to continue to participate or advance in employment” (Extract from judgment below)
July 03, 2019
PROPERTY TRANSFERS AND TRUST ACCOUNT THEFT: A R720,000 WARNING
“The issue of whether a conveyancing attorney receives the money as the agent of the seller, or of the purchaser, or of both, or as trustee for both to await the event, is a somewhat vexed question … and each case must be considered in the light of its own facts and the particular contractual terms under which the conveyancer received payment” (Extract from judgment below)
June 17, 2019
EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK – CAN YOU DIFFERENTIATE WITHOUT UNFAIRLY DISCRIMINATING?
“Prohibition of unfair discrimination: No person may unfairly discriminate, directly or indirectly, against an employee, in any employment policy or practice, on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, family responsibility, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, HIV status, conscience, belief, political opinion, culture, language, birth or on any other arbitrary ground” (from the Employment Equity Act)
May 26, 2019
PROPERTY BUYERS: THERE’S A NEW DEDUCTION FROM INTEREST EARNED ON YOUR DEPOSIT
When you buy property, the sale agreement often provides for you to pay a deposit (normally 10% of the sale price) to the conveyancer (the attorney transferring the property into your name), to be kept in trust until transfer.
March 28, 2019
EMPLOYERS SUE EMPLOYEES
“It is the duty of an employee when rendering his or her services always to act exclusively in the interest of the employer … an employee is not entitled to use his or her employment relationship with the employer without the employer’s permission to make a profit or earn commission for his or her own account” (Extracts from judgment below)
March 04, 2019
BEWARE THE BUILDING DEADLINES WHEN BUYING
Here’s yet another warning from our courts to take seriously the building deadlines commonly imposed on buyers of plots in residential estates. Failure to comply with them could expose you to heavy fines, recurring penalties and even the risk of losing your plot altogether.
February 19, 2019
Buying your First Home
Note: If you earn over R22k p.m. (the subsidy threshold) or aren’t personally in the market for a house in the “affordable housing” bracket, please think of forwarding this article to someone who might be – perhaps a relative, friend, colleague or employee. You could be helping them take that important first step onto the property ladder!
January 20, 2019
Victims of corruption take heart
“… it is necessary for an unequivocal message to be sent out that corruption on the part of politicians, especially those holding high office, will not be tolerated and that punishment for those who act as Mr Block has done in this case will be severe” (extract from SCA case below)
January 15, 2019
Beware the building deadlines when buying
Here’s yet another warning from our courts to take seriously the building deadlines commonly imposed on buyers of plots in residential estates. Failure to comply with them could expose you to heavy fines, recurring penalties and even the risk of losing your plot altogether.
November 12, 2018
It is 13th cheque time, must you pay?
Once again November is upon us, and no doubt employees around the country are starting to dream of all the good things they can do with that “Christmas” bonus coming their way. If you are one of them perhaps you plan to pay off debt or to re-charge the family’s batteries with a special holiday. Or perhaps you just want to reward yourself and your loved ones with a bit of free-spending on a luxury or two to celebrate a special time of year.
November 06, 2018
Can I have pets in a Residential Complex
“I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home, which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog which growls every morning, a parrot which swears all afternoon, and a cat that comes home late at night” (Marie Corelli, English novelist)
October 08, 2018
You are fired!
You want to charge one of your employees with serious misconduct so you institute disciplinary proceedings. To avoid a possible dismissal the employee resigns “with immediate effect”.
Can you go ahead with disciplining the employee? Until recently the answer was no, the Labour Court having decided in such a matter that immediate resignation brings an end to the employment relationship and puts the employee beyond your reach
January 01, 2020
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August 08, 2018
Suing your Security Company
“Somewhat ironically, given the fact that the phrase “not a sausage” is originally derived from the Cockney rhyming slang “sausages and mash” meaning “cash”, they got away with not a sausage from the butchery but a great deal of cash” (extract from judgment below)
July 04, 2018
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CANCEL A LEASE EARLY
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May 06, 2018
FACEBOOK DEFAMATION – THE TRUTH IS NOT ENOUGH!
You are engaged in a bitter dispute – perhaps it’s a fight over money, a family feud or a messy divorce, a disaffected employee or a vengeful neighbour. You decide to resort to Social Media “to tell the truth” about your nemesis. You feel totally safe doing so – after all, our Constitution protects our rights to free speech, the Internet is a bastion of Freedom of Information, nothing said online is “real”, and anyway who can object to you telling the truth?
April 04, 2018
POPI: AN EXISTING RISK, A RIGHT ROYAL RUCKUS, AND THE EU DEADLINE
When will the enforcement provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act (“POPI” or “POPIA”) come into effect? Latest indications are that the Information Regulator will announce final Regulations and a commencement date shortly, but there have been so many delays already that we perhaps shouldn’t be holding our breath on that one.
March 08, 2018
BCMM Rates Queries
Are your immovable properties the subject of scrutiny by Buffalo City Municipality, following the 2017 general valuation? If so, as a property owner, you will have received a Section 49 Notice by way of mail. Alternatively, you are alerted to the municipal website www.bcmm.evaluations.co.za.
Stirk Yazbek Attorneys have received many complaints from property owners in respect of over-inflated evaluations. We, together with agents and professional assessors, will assist you in objecting. The cut-off date is 26 April 2018. The new valuation roll will take effect from 1 July 2018 and will endure until 30 June 2022. In many instances, we have noticed properties being over-valued by 100% and in some occasions even 500%. Do not miss your opportunity to object!
Please feel free to contact our offices.
February 26, 2018
Trustees and Personal Liability
“It is well established that contractual provisions are against public policy ‘… if there is a probability that unconscionable, immoral or illegal conduct will result from the implementation of the provisions according to the tenor’” (extract from judgment below)
February 08, 2018
SECURITY ESTATES: ARE YOUR RULES ENFORCEABLE?
“It is well established that contractual provisions are against public policy ‘… if there is a probability that unconscionable, immoral or illegal conduct will result from the implementation of the provisions according to the tenor’” (extract from judgment below)
January 29, 2018
Unregisitered Estate Agent
With media reports suggesting that up to 50,000 agents may be operating without the required Fidelity Fund Certificate (FFC). The real figure is likely to be a lot less in that many former agents have probably just closed up shop in the last 10 years, but even so there is a chance that the agent who sold or rented out your house for you is (whether inadvertently or by design) unregistered.