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Dear Friends of Van Deventer & Van Deventer,

Welcome to the November 2021 edition of what will become our monthly newsletter. The intention of our newsletter is to keep in touch with clients, business partners and friends of the industry. We also intend on providing the readers with updated and relevant market trends, but also give you an opportunity to get to know some of our staff on a slightly lighter and more personal note.

With 2021 rushing to an end, we reflect on what has been a busy and eventful year, with lockdowns, a fantastic series victory by The Springboks over the British and Irish Lions, but also a great time for property buyers with interest rates lower than they have been for many years.

We have been privileged to have a large number of Property Professionals attend NQF4, logbook and many other industry related training sessions in our very own training facility.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read the newsletter and please do pop in for a catch up when you are next in our area.

Cor van Deventer - Director

Arno van Deventer - Director

Phoenix & Van Deventers – a One Stop Shop

We are very pleased to introduce Phoenix Group – a new division of Van Deventers offering bond origination, bridging finance and professional training for property practitioners. The Phoenix/Van Deventers team can now offer a “One Stop Shop” for comprehensive training, financial and legal expertise in the South African real estate sector.

The Group is being headed up by Hannah van Deventer (Cor’s wife, and also a systems-driven senior project engineer). Hannah’s previous experience involved engineering and project management of rutile mine developments across Australia and Sierra Leone. The most recent job, to initiate a project management office in Johannesburg, landed her a permanent family and place in South Africa. Phoenix has been in operation since May and Hannah has already begun exercising her transferable skills around planning, quality and collaboration to ensure a smooth start-up.

The Phoenix team is growing to meet the demands and needs of their clients, and the aim is to allow agents and purchasers to have ready-at-hand access to legal and financial advice, and know that their team is working together to ensure a timely and seamless transition from offers to purchase through to registration.

Phoenix Bonds, an Associate Business Partner of Mortgage Max, can assist purchasers with credit checks, pre-qualifications and bond applications to up to 9 nine banks simultaneously (including the big four) through our online system. We have been getting some very competitive interest rate offers of late, however we urge you to engage our team for bond applications as soon as possible to set the applicant up for the best chance of success. We also do mortgage origination for developers – where we assist with pre-approvals of the development at each of our banks to ensure that end-user bond applications are accelerated.

In addition, Phoenix Bridging is now a registered credit provider with the National Credit Regulator (Registration #NCRCP14974). We will be up and running very soon to provide property practitioners an internal facility for commission advances.

We look forward to working with all of you and offering you that extra level of service.

Van Deventer & Van Deventer Inc. - Cape Town

The Cape Town office of Van Deventer & Van Deventer at its current address at 3 High Street, Rosenpark, opened on 1 April 2020. This was a few days after South Africa entered its first COVID 19 Hard Lockdown.

As soon as the Hard Lockdown lifted the brand-new office started to expand and expand some more. By November 2020 the office was starting to burst at its seams. There was an opportunity to obtain the adjacent office, which was taken.

Van Deventer & Van Deventer Cape Town now proudly has a 380 square meter office overlooking the Tygerberg and the Durbanville wine route. It further boasts a 40-seater training room with the top-class technology and hosting amenities, a “penthouse” veranda and deck and a fully stocked bar to unwind after a hard day`s training.

Despite the usual conveyancing services, for which we have become known in the industry, Van Deventer & Van Deventer has an established history in assisting agencies and their intern agents with completion of the Logbook for Interns as per the Estate Agency Affairs Board, facilitating NQF4 courses now in association with Phoenix Group and PDE preparation for the EAAB PDE Examination.

Van Deventer & Van Deventer Cape Town is ready and able to assist in whatever property and conveyancing needs you require.

When the smoke is not from a braai

When the smoke is not from a braai, it can mean loss of goods in a ravaging fire. These can either be less valuable things or those that are most treasured, but fire does not choose, it just burns and burns. Sometimes it does not end there, what can be more frustrating than having to deal with hindrances in an insurance claim after such a loss, or worse, if the insurer rejects the claim due to a short clause hidden somewhere in the fine print?

The process of taking a matter to a Court of law for resolution is what is generally referred to as “litigation”. Depending on the extent of the quantified damages, the matter may be heard in the District Magistrate Court, Regional Magistrate Court or the High Court. Civil litigation is more than just the exchange of pleadings from the Summons to the execution of the Order. It is also about knowing when to let mouths do the talking.

Remember: There is nothing as expensive as litigating without a competent lawyer. We offer specialist litigation services in matters that include commercial and insurance litigation, contract law disputes, criminal law, family law, law of insolvency, apostille and notarial services, debt collection, disputes in labour law, alternative dispute resolution, trusts and more.

At Van Deventer & Van Deventer Incorporated we offer a full spectrum of litigation services in a wide array of legal matters, all under one roof from our Johannesburg and Cape Town offices.

Get to know: Sam Schalkwyk,
Senior Conveyancing Secretary

1. How long have you been employed at Van Deventer’s Inc? 3 years and 5 months
2. What do you enjoy most about what you do daily at VDVD? Working with clients and assisting to make the transfer process as smooth as humanly possible. Also enjoy tackling new matters that are not considered the norm as a learning experience. An added bonus is seeing the reactions from clients when they finally take ownership of their new home.
3. If you could give your past self-advice, what would it be? Don’t let people tell you that you can’t
4. How would you explain what you do daily to a 10-year-old child? Slowly and possibly with a diagram or an example such as, “if you own a piece of Lego and your friend wants to buy it from you, I manage the process to make sure that the piece of Lego becomes your friend’s”
5. What is your favorite?
   1. Food- Sushi
   2. Drink- Coffee (there is no life before coffee) 
   3. Car- A Class A 45 Mercedes Benz
   4. Holiday Destination- Cape Town
6. Words to live by… “Your only limit is your mind”