In the matter of Stay At South Point Properties (Pty) Ltd v Mqulwana and Others (UCT intervening as amicus curiae), the South African Supreme Court of Appeal ("SCA") issued a significant ruling regarding student accommodation and eviction laws.
The case stemmed from an incident where a group of students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology ("CPUT") refused to vacate their student accommodation at the end of the 2020 academic year. This prompted South Point Properties, the accommodation provider (and appellant in the SCA), to pursue legal action to evict the students.
The Western Cape High Court had dismissed the application to evict the students. The appellant appealed the decision.
The central issue in the SCA was whether the student accommodation was considered to be a "home" for purposes of section 26(3) of the Constitution. This determined in turn whether the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act, 1998 ("PIE"), applies to the student accommodation.
The SCA considered three important features of the accommodation provided by CPUT to its students and found that:
- the students came from other residences, such as their family homes in order to study at the university. Eviction did not render the students homeless;
- the provision of student accommodation was for a finite period of time and it had a limited and defined purpose: to accommodate students for the duration of the academic year and facilitate their studies at the university; and
- the students knew full well that each year, new students came to the university and need accommodation. Equity required that those who have had the benefit of accommodation should yield to those who have not.
The SCA held that student accommodation does not qualify as a "home" under section 26(3) of the Constitution and therefore PIE does not apply to accommodation made available to students. The appellant was therefore entitled to evict the students from its residence on reliance upon the rei vindicatio, a principle affirming the property owner's rights.
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