The Cape Town office is proud to nominate Zelna Swartz from Anneke Whelan Attorneys as their legal practitioner of the month. Her experience in commercial and civil litigation was a perfect fit for an acrimonious commercial matter.
The matter was urgent as the client had two days to vacate the commercial premises in which she ran her small business. The client advises that her close corporation entered into a written one-year lease agreement with a commercial landlord commencing on 1 November 2023. The client advises that her business was given beneficial occupation for October 2023. The business only made use of four days of the beneficial occupation month.
In and during May 2024, the client wished to terminate her lease, despite the agreement lacking a termination clause, because she had requested a specific certificate for the premises several times from the landlord, which was not forthcoming. After being notified about the client’s intention to vacate the premises, the landlord informed the client that her ability to terminate the lease agreement and vacate the premises would be contingent on her payment of the rent for the beneficial occupation month and the remaining months of the lease period.
The financial burden that went with vacating the premises was of great concern for the client as she did not believe she should pay the hefty amount demanded by the landlord. Zelna Swartz offered to mediate the matter on a pro bono basis even though she was only approached by ProBono.Org for a legal opinion.
Thanks to her swift and meticulous legal service, the matter was amicably resolved. The parties agreed to the re-drafting of the lease agreement for the benefit of both parties and the client was provided with the requested certificate by the landlord.
