Lease agreement template for South Africa
Your tenant can ask for a written lease under the Rental Housing Act. Fill this one in and preview every clause.Fill in your lease agreement
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What the Rental Housing Act requires
- A written lease if your tenant asks for one. The Rental Housing Act 50 of 1999 gives the tenant that right. The 2014 amendment that would make a written lease compulsory has not come into force.
- The deposit in an interest-bearing account. The interest belongs to the tenant. Work it out below.
- Joint inspections at move-in and move-out. They decide what you can deduct from the deposit. What happens if you skip one.
- Disputes go to the Rental Housing Tribunal. Either of you can take a dispute there free of charge and without a lawyer, in the province where the property is. Its ruling has the force of a magistrate's court judgment.
Deposit interest and refund deadlines
The Act requires you to keep the deposit in an interest-bearing account at a financial institution and to pay the tenant interest at no less than that institution's savings rate. The tenant can ask for proof of the account and the interest at any time.Deposit interest calculator
R
%
The rate your bank pays on the account that holds the deposit.
Interest is counted up to this date.
Enter the deposit, the rate and both dates to see the interest.
In Brokik you record the deposit and the day it came in on the tenant's deposit card. At move-out, the final settlement counts the interest from the rate you enter and keeps the period and the rate next to the amount.
When the deposit goes back
You refund the deposit with its interest. The deadline depends on the outgoing inspection.
- Within 7 days of the lease ending, if you deduct nothing.
- Within 14 days of the tenant handing the property back, if you held a joint outgoing inspection and deduct documented, itemised costs.
- Within 21 days of the lease ending, if the tenant did not come to the outgoing inspection you invited them to.
Joint inspection at move-in and move-out
You and your tenant inspect the property together before the tenant moves in and again before the lease ends. You record the condition of each room, the fittings and furniture, and the meter readings.
If you skip the move-in inspection, the property counts as handed over in good condition. If you do not invite the tenant to the move-out inspection, you lose the right to deduct anything and refund the whole deposit with interest.
Fixed terms, notice and rent increases
- A fixed term of up to 24 months. When the tenant is a person and not a company, the Consumer Protection Act caps a fixed-term lease at 24 months. If the tenant stays on afterwards with your consent, the lease continues month to month on the same terms.
- 20 business days' notice from the tenant. A tenant who is a person, not a company, can cancel at any time with 20 business days' written notice. You may charge a reasonable cancellation penalty, not the rent for the rest of the term.
- 20 business days to fix a breach. With such a tenant you can cancel for a material breach only after giving 20 business days' written notice to fix it.
- Rent increases. There is no rent control. Market practice is an annual escalation of about 8%, agreed in the lease. Without an agreed rate, an increase needs at least one calendar month's written notice.
- Eviction only by court order. Only a court order under the PIE Act can remove a tenant. Changing the locks, removing the tenant's belongings or cutting off utilities is not allowed.
- Written notice before a fixed term ends. For a fixed-term lease with a tenant who is a person, not a company, you must tell the tenant in writing that the term is about to end, no more than 80 and no fewer than 40 business days before the end date.
What comes next for this lease in Brokik
The next three steps of the same tenancy, on screens from a South African account.You and your tenant sign online
Each party signs with a code sent by email, and Brokik records the signing date and the document checksum. Your tenant signs on their phone.You hold the joint inspection together
Brokik records the inspection as a handover protocol that starts with the property and the tenant from the lease. You add the meter readings, the keys, each room with its fittings and photos, and you both sign it.At move-out, Brokik works out the deposit interest
In the final settlement you enter the rate your bank paid. Brokik counts the interest from the day the deposit came in to the last day of the lease, shows the period, the rate and the amount, and sends the settlement to your tenant by email.
Pick a plan sized to your number of properties to finish setting up your account.