Standard Bank wins court battle to auction home over R1.4m unpaid debt
Standard Bank wins case to sell home after woman ends up owing it R1.4 million.
Image: Henk Kruger / Independent Newspapers
A Gauteng woman has lost her long-standing legal battle to save her home after the Western Cape High Court ruled that the execution of her property was both fair and unavoidable because she didn’t pay a mounting mortgage debt and rates bill.
The respondent, who represented herself after her attorneys withdrew, faced a default judgment issued against her in August 2018. The case stems from a R580 000 home loan with Standard Bank taken out years earlier, secured by a mortgage bond on her primary residence. However, by April this year, her total outstanding debt, to both the bank and the municipality, had ballooned to over R2.3 million, with R1.4m owed to Standard Bank and R939 271 to the municipality.
In 2014, the woman went into debt review, but failed to keep up payments under that process, which was then terminated because she didn’t meet the requirements. Despite numerous promises and small payments made between 2016 and 2020 – including what turned out to be her last payment of R13 800 in March 2020 – “the parties have exhausted alternative avenues to settle the arrears,” the judgement read.
Over the years, the woman proposed various solutions: a lump sum payment of R100 000, monthly repayments of R10 000 with an extra R5 000 toward arrears, and assistance from her employed family members. She also referenced a long-outstanding Road Accident Fund claim that she hoped to use to settle her debt.
“There was debt review, restructuring payments, subdividing of the property and the extension of time for payments. All of these did not assist in reducing or settling the debt. Despite all these efforts, the amount of debt was escalating and remained unsatisfied, the judge said.
The matter, delayed in part by the COVID-19 pandemic and the late submission of documents, was finally heard in May 2025. The court considered that there had been no payments for several year, all other avenues were exhausted, and that the respondent didn’t put up a “substantive defence or opposition” to Standard Bank’s claim to execute the house.
“It is clear that the respondent has no means to afford to make payment of the judgment debt,” said the judge.
The highest value for the house was R1m, which was not sufficient to pay her debts, and the judge ruled that execution was “the only option available to settle the debt,” even though this amount was R1.3m less than what was actually owed, giving the bank the go-ahead to attach the house.