An established panelbeating, collision repair and insurance and fleet repair business is for sale. It was registered in 1997 and has traded continuously for twenty nine years under the same single member.
The business and the freehold property from which it operates are offered for sale together, as a single combined transaction.
The property comprises two contiguous registered portions of a farm in Limpopo, with a combined extent of 4,7921 hectares, approximately 8 km north of Hoedspruit. Both portions are held in the personal name of the member, not in the close corporation. The transaction therefore has two legs, the sale of the business out of the close corporation and the sale of the immovable property by the member in his personal capacity.
The following conditions are recorded in the title deeds and are reproduced here because they bear directly on how the property may be used. They are set out in full so that a buyer can take its own advice rather than discover them at conveyancing.
7.1 Restriction on use, business and industry The Deed of Transfer records conditions imposed and enforceable by the Administrator in Executive Committee, as
Controlling Authority defined in Act 21 of 1940. Except with the written approval of that authority:
- The land shall be used solely for residential and agricultural purposes, and the number of buildings on the land or on any duly approved subdivision shall not exceed one residence together with such outbuildings as are ordinarily required in connection therewith and such further buildings and structures as may be required for purposes of agriculture.
- No store or place of business or industry whatsoever may be opened or conducted on the land. This is a material item. The business has traded from the site since 1997, which suggests either that a consent, departure, rezoning or removal of restrictive condition has at some point been obtained, or that the operation has run without one. Both possibilities carry consequences for a buyer and for the value of the asset. Required before release of this pack to any buyer:
- The seller to produce any consent, departure, rezoning approval, special consent use or removal of restrictive conditions
obtained in respect of the panelbeating use.
- A current zoning certificate from the local authority.
- If no consent exists, a conveyancer and town planner opinion on the process, cost and likely timeline to regularise the use, whether by removal of the condition under the relevant provincial legislation, by rezoning, or by consent use. Handled openly, this is a solvable planning matter. Handled by omission, it is the item most likely to collapse a transaction at
due diligence or to found a later claim against the seller.
7.2 Servitudes
One portion of the property, from which another was subdivided, is subject to the following, in favour of a neighbouring property:
- A servitude of water furrow 9,45 metres wide, as indicated on the subdivisional diagram.
- A right of way servitude 6,30 metres wide, parallel and adjacent to the water furrow servitude. These are recorded more fully in the schedule of conditions, Deed of Servitude and relevant diagrams. A buyer should establish on site where the servitude runs relative to the existing buildings, yard and access, since it constrains where further structures may be placed.
7.3 Mineral rights
Both portions are subject to the reservation of rights to minerals in favour of a third party under a Certificate of Mineral Rights, issued in respect of the farm. The reservation carries the customary ancillary rights of prospecting, access, water use and surface occupation, with compensation provisions. This is a common historic Transvaal reservation and is noted for completeness. Its practical effect on a workshop site is ordinarily limited, and the position of such reservations under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act should be confirmed by the buyer’s attorney.
7.4 Agricultural land status
The subdivision that created one of the portions was granted under section 4 of the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act, 1970, and the properties were noted as subject to the Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act, 1983. Correspondence on file records that a further subdivision of one of the portions was being attended to by the conveyancers. Its current status is to be confirmed. Any further subdivision or separate sale of a portion requires consent under Act 70 of 1970.
