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Don’t get caught napping with a time-bar clause in your construction contract

07 March 2023

Clients are often surprised when they discover clauses in their construction contract that requires them to give notice to the... building contractor, usually within very short periods of time, of their intention to dispute a set of circumstances, failing which, they lose their right to refer such a dispute for dispute resolution. This then raises the question of why these clauses are present and how enforceable they are.

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277
Article
The importance of mediation, adjudication and arbitration in construction disputes

20 October 2022

Parties to construction projects easily get nervous when they see provisions in the agreement that demand that disputes be referred... to mediation and/or arbitration. Why have these provisions, and do they water down the enforcement of their rights? In this article, we unpack why clauses such as these have become the norm in the construction industry and should be welcomed.

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713
Article
How conditional is a performance guarantee?

15 November 2021

Our company recently had to provide a performance guarantee to guarantee work we have to do on a large civil... project we have been contracted for. There have been a number of labour and environmental issues which have affected our ability to deliver with the contracted timeframes on the work, and the client is threatening to enforce our performance bond. Surely, this enforcement of the bond must be subject to reasonableness?

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474
Article
What Covid tax relief measures can my company qualify for?

06 January 2021

I have a construction company which has been hard hit by the Covid-pandemic and although I have managed to keep... our doors open and not retrench my employees, we are in dire straits. I understand that there are some tax relief measures which I can access to assist my company. Is this true?

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443
Article
Can a body corporate institute action against the sectional title developer?

10 November 2020

In our sectional title scheme, it has become clear that many of the structures on the common property have been... poorly built and are defective. However, the body corporate is uncertain whether it can take action against the developer for these defects and accordingly nothing is happening. Surely the body corporate should be able to do something?

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389
Article
Can a close corporation go under business rescue?

10 June 2020

I have a construction business that is operated in a close corporation. As we have not had much work during... the last few months, my business has come under severe financial pressure. I still believe in the business and know things will pick up again, but right now we just don’t have the cashflow to pay our creditors. I’m considering business rescue but am unsure whether that option is available seeing as my business is a close corporation?

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302
Article
When to register your BEE transaction with the B-BBEE Commission

15 May 2018

I have a medium-sized construction business. We recently had our BEE partner buy a stake in our business. I’ve heard... that you are now required to register your BEE transactions with the new B-BBEE Commission. Is this correct and will I have to register our transaction?

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434
Article
A strange thing called servitude

09 June 2017

I applied to my municipality to have the building plans for the extension of my garage approved. The municipality rejected... my proposed extension on the grounds that it would be constructed over a servitude registered against my title deed in favour of the municipality. What is a servitude? Can I have it removed?

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489
Article
Capital gains tax paid on monies not received? What can you do?

09 June 2017

I have a few investment properties in my property company. One such property I purchased in 2002 for R200,000 and... subsequently sold in 2013 for R3,500,000. My company paid income tax on the capital gain as though I received the full R3,500,000. However by 2016 I had only received R1,500,000 when the other party fell bankrupt, leaving me without the full purchase price. SARS refuses to pay back the amount I overpaid, and I now have a huge capital loss in the company. Is there anything I can do?

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358
Article