Tenants 16,9% in arrears as courts order Durban family out by 15 October

Average residential rent in South Africa reached a record R9 715 in the second quarter of 2026, up R133 on the previous quarter and 5,2% higher than a year earlier, while the share of tenants behind on their payments rose to 16,9%.

The figures come from the PayProp Rental Index, reported by IOL, and they describe a market under quiet strain. The proportion of tenants in arrears edged up from 16,7% in the first quarter, still close to historic lows. Those who were behind owed an average of 73,5% of one month’s rent, down from 74,3% in the quarter before.

For a household that cannot keep up, the important question is not only what is owed. It is what a landlord may lawfully do about it, and four recent High Court judgments set that out in unusual detail.

What the courts have decided

In a judgment handed down last week, the KwaZulu-Natal High Court ordered tenants who had occupied a Durban property without paying rent for more than 12 years to leave by 15 October 2026.

The dispute in Strydom N.O and Another v Phili and Others runs back to 2014, when an earlier attempt to cancel the lease failed. In 2019 the High Court found that cancellation had been unlawful because the landlord had not given the tenants enough notice to fix the breach before terminating the lease. The tenants stayed, and the rent went unpaid.

In 2025 the landlords tried again, giving notice of the breach with a month to remedy it, then cancelling the lease and allowing a further month to vacate. This time the court found the cancellation lawful. It held that the tenants had raised no valid legal argument entitling them to remain without paying, and set the departure date.

A Johannesburg case decided on 23 July 2026 reached a similar result. In RED R7 (Pty) Ltd v Seroka and Another, the tenant defaulted shortly after moving in. Demands and cancellation notices followed, and the landlord launched eviction proceedings in July 2024. By April 2025 the landlord’s account showed arrears of R188 579,96, an amount the tenant disputed, arguing that deductions from prepaid electricity purchases had not been properly accounted for.

The court made no finding on the exact figure. It said the landlord could pursue the debt separately and the tenant could raise her arguments about electricity deductions in those proceedings. For the eviction itself, the size of the disputed arrears did not give her a right to stay once the lease had been cancelled.

The household included two minor children, and the tenant argued that eviction would leave the family homeless. The court treated the children as an important consideration in how the order should be structured, but not as a bar to eviction. The landlord agreed to lift the tenant’s blacklisting for two months to help her find alternative accommodation, and the household was given until 21 September 2026 to leave, rather than the 30 days the landlord sought.

Where landlords overreach

Two further judgments show what happens when an owner skips the process.

In Lukhele and Others v Humayl Properties, occupiers were removed from a Randburg property while an eviction application against them was still pending. The Gauteng High Court found the removal unlawful, ordered that possession be restored immediately, and barred the owners from changing locks, cutting utilities, removing belongings or intimidating the occupants while the proceedings ran. The judgment was clear that an allegation that occupants owe money, or have no right to remain, does not license an owner to bypass a court-ordered eviction.

In Dikgwathle v Phetheni, decided on 12 June 2026, the North West High Court set aside an eviction after finding that a private notice to vacate was not the court-authorised notice the law requires. The Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act, known as PIE, requires the occupier and the municipality to receive written and effective notice of eviction proceedings at least 14 days before the hearing. That notice must say when and where the matter will be heard, set out the grounds for the proposed eviction, and tell occupiers that they may appear, defend the case and apply for legal aid where necessary. Those requirements had not been met.

PIE has required a court order before an unlawful occupier can be evicted since it was passed, and the Constitutional Court set out how it should be applied more than two decades ago in Port Elizabeth Municipality v Various Occupiers. A court must look beyond who owns the property and who occupies it, and ask whether eviction would be just and equitable. Where an occupier has lived on the property for more than six months, the Act expressly requires the court to weigh relevant circumstances, including whether land or alternative accommodation can reasonably be made available.

What changes for tenants

The practical effect for a household in arrears is that owing money and being evicted are two different things, separated by a process. Non-payment can lead to a cancelled lease and, eventually, to a court order to leave. Until that order exists, a landlord who changes the locks or removes belongings is acting outside the law, and the High Court has shown it will reverse that.

The rules themselves may move. Cabinet approved publication of the draft Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Amendment Bill for public comment at its meeting on 25 March 2026. The proposed changes are aimed at illegal land invasions and at property owners’ rights, while retaining protections against arbitrary eviction, and they touch on what courts must consider and on alternative accommodation.

For now the position is the one the judgments describe. A tenant who falls behind should expect the lease to be cancelled and the matter to reach court. A landlord who wants possession should expect the court to check the notice, the timing and the circumstances before granting it.

The draft Bill is out for public comment, and the Durban tenants have been given until 15 October 2026 to leave.

Source: IOL, Behind on rent? You can be kicked out