Article by: Roodepoort Attorney: Leon Woolnik
In Els v Venter and Another, the Supreme Court of Appeal was asked to determine whether a residential lease of a family home fell within the ambit of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA). The Court held that the CPA only applies where the lessor is acting in the ordinary course of business, engaged in the continual marketing and supply of rental services.
In this case, the property owners were private individuals temporarily letting their family home while relocating abroad and preparing for its sale. They were not professional landlords or suppliers of rental stock, and therefore the tenant was not a “consumer” under the CPA. The Court emphasized that the CPA is designed to regulate commercial market practices and protect vulnerable consumers, not to govern once-off, private arrangements between parties of equal bargaining power. Consequently, the tenant’s reliance on section 14 of the CPA, which regulates cancellation of fixed-term consumer agreements, was misplaced, as the lease agreement did not qualify as a consumer agreement under the Act.
Although the Court upheld the validity of the contractual termination clause in the lease, it set aside the High Court’s order compelling the tenant to vacate the property. The eviction order was found to be impermissible because it bypassed the procedural and substantive safeguards of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (PIE). PIE requires a just and equitable determination by the court, taking into account all relevant circumstances before granting eviction relief.
The judgment thus draws a clear boundary: private residential leases of family homes fall outside the CPA, but any eviction from such property must still comply with PIE. This ensures certainty in private contracting while preserving constitutional protections against arbitrary eviction.
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