I recently wrote about the new law making it compulsory for sellers to make a declaration about the condition of the property they are putting on the market so that the buyer is fully aware of its condition including faults that may need to be fixed.

I am told there is a Gauteng family that bought a house at an auction only to find it occupied by “illegal tenants” who did not want to move out.

I have been asked discuss how this can be avoided or addressed.

My advice is simple: sellers should declare what they know about the property and they should draw up a contract that makes it clear that the buyer is buying a property that he/she has seen and done the necessary investigations on their own.

The new law regarding seller declarations has only just come into force and it’s not surprising some people could be facing challenges when buying property and don’t know how the new law could assist them.

To begin with, the new law means that the seller is required to declare any faults or condition of the building that is being sold or those that he should reasonably be aware of.

Remember sellers seldom have the skills necessary to know whether or not there were, for example, problems with the foundations unless these had caused problems in the past.

In my opinion, this is yet another piece of legislation that gives more rights to purchasers than they should have.

While I am happy that sellers should indicate any serious problems that they were aware of or should have been aware of, it should also be a requirement that a buyer should understand that they are not buying a new property and should take reasonable care to know what they are buying.

This includes the physical state of the building and anything else that could be going on at the property.

It has always been the case that a seller could never deliberately hide problems – for example, cover over serious dampness with a bookcase or not let a buyer know about roof leaks.

But, in my opinion, it is simply making it more difficult to contract freely.

On the other hand, buyers should carefully look at properties that they are considering buying.

Nobody can expect them to climb into roof spaces and again buyers cannot be considered experts in buildings.

Normally serious problems would be visible from the inside or outside of a property.

Both sellers and buyers should look carefully to see that water flows properly and that there are no serious problems with the building on the market.

They should also remember that not every small defect is a problem.

I have lived in my house for over 45 years.

Is it perfect?

No.

But those small problems – little cracks or a solar system that trips if there is especially heavy rain are not serious problems.

Bottom line: one is buying a second-hand product and not a new one.

It is therefore important to thoroughly inspect it and be sure about its availability before entering into or concluding any purchase agreement.

• Mike Spencer is the founder and owner of Platinum Global. He is also a professional associated property valuer and consultant with work across the country as well as Eastern Europe and Australia.

While there are a few owners who want staff back in the office in order to start having face-to-face meetings, online meetings have become the norm.

It is just another indication that the demand for office space is not likely to grow soon, particularly in Bloemfontein.

We can see in the market that there are large numbers of vacant and under-utilised offices across the city.

The demand is simply not there.

What can be done with these offices to create an income?

Firstly, we should remember that many of them are simply converted houses, so a possible solution is to return them to their original use as a single home or to split them into a number of smaller apartments.

The market for such units is good now and it is a realistic option, provided that bathroom facilities are there or can be easily put in.

Secondly, the same can be said for small offices, especially in Westdene as most house-sized units are too large for smaller businesses.

Something needs to be done because landlords cannot continue to suffer from these properties standing vacant.

And if you have tried looking for a nice place to stay, it seems there are very few quality residential places to let.

Even if you are prepared to pay over the odds to rent something neater, newer, or nearer to work, you are going to be disappointed.

Apart from Langenhoven Park and a few areas in the north, there has been very little development taking place around the city.

Even fewer of these areas have allowed for the development of flats or apartments, so the new supply is very limited compared to the current demand.

Any middle-of-the-road potential tenant will find it near impossible to find an affordable luxury apartment to rent – at any price.

It is quite surprising because the cost of land is high and putting three times the units on a site should be a preferred option for developers and reduces this cost per unit by two thirds.

Servicing an area of flats is going to be less than servicing an area of single-storey units.

With relatively large flat sites compared to individual stands the services are simpler, the roads are far fewer and cheaper to construct in total.

It is disappointing that developers have not taken these new dynamics on board and are still developing small sites that cannot accommodate more than 25 units while the demand for large multi-unit developments remains high.

• Mike Spencer is the founder and owner of Platinum Global. He is also a professional associated property valuer and consultant with work across the country as well as Eastern Europe and Australia.

Recently I was asked to find a place for a couple to stay in Bloemfontein while they were looking for a home to buy.

They were looking for a modern apartment with a double garage or carport and somewhere to store their things until they moved into their new home.

What I found was disturbing.

Firstly, virtually no new apartments have been built since the 1970s, the reason being that since then the metro is no longer the developer of suburbs.

New suburbs are developed privately and because of the unreasonable restrictions on the number of units per hectare, most developers have simply opted for townhouses instead.

In Bainsvlei, this limit is two storeys and 20 units per hectare compared to up to 120 units per hectare in town.

It’s just totally impractical.

This has resulted in a dearth of modern apartments.

Quite honestly, I don’t know where this market now stays.

Is it not time to allow for normal densities on flat sites?

Then developers will include more of then in their new suburbs.

The appetite for buying property remains quite strong.

Given the opportunity, many people would want to to own than rent a property.

There is a real lack of available sites in the city on which to do new developments especially ones that can be called “affordable luxury” units.

We have also been mandated to sell the Bloemfontein portfolio of a local developer which includes bachelor and two-bedroom flats, guest houses, small holdings and potential development sites, commercial sites in Ooseinde and more.

The developer has decided to concentrate his properties in other parts of the country including the Cape.

What’s most interesting is the massive positive response that we received from the current tenants as well as others owning some units in the same building.

The tenants seem to be eager to buy their own properties rather than rent and other owners appear to be happy to buy additional investment units in these buildings.

• Mike Spencer is the founder and owner of Platinum Global. He is also a professional associated property valuer and consultant with work across the country as well as Eastern Europe and Australia.