A long-standing feud with the homeowners’ association (HOA) of the upmarket Silver Lakes golf and wildlife estate in Pretoria has driven an angry resident to crash through security gates in his vehicle and block entry to the complex for hours.
Businessman Pine Pienaar says his 13-year stand-off with the HOA has cost him R9.8m in legal fees. The quarrel stems from a R250,000 bill, claimed by the HOA for fines and levies.
“They took me to court in 2012 for the unpaid fine and I stopped paying my levies. In 2014, they locked me out of the complex because of this. I crashed through their boom gates on seven occasions,” Pienaar told the Sunday Times.
He also blocked the entrance and exit to the estate for a few hours for three days running.
“I waited every day until midafternoon when they were very busy, then I took my bakkie with some signage I had made and parked it in front of the entrance, removed the key and left. I then returned with a truck I borrowed from a friend and did the same. Nobody could get in or out,” Pienaar laughed.
He said the battle had led to vandals spray-painting the walls, gate and driveway of his home with lewd images and profanities.
The HOA, however, describes Pienaar as a “frivolous” and “vexatious” litigator, who “has not been a stellar example as to the timely and punctual payment of levies”.
At the heart of the stand-off is R250,000 in fines and levies the association claims Pienaar owes, related to delays in the construction of his home.
Multiple legal applications — made both by Pienaar and against him — and a multitude of interlocutory matters and sequestration applications have seen Pienaar in court on many occasions over the past decade.
Pienaar, 65, says he made his money from construction and government tenders.
He bought a plot in Silver Lakes in 2003.
“I paid about R1m for the plot and did the building work myself. When we started construction we hit problems with water in the basement,” he said. “I wrote a letter to the homeowners’ association explaining the problem and received a letter back giving me an extension to finish.”
The Sunday Times has seen this letter.
“Then the estate had a change in management. The new management did not accept the letter and therefore the extension, so I had to pay the fine — but I refused,” Pienaar said.
“In 2014, they locked me out of the complex because of this. There is no way you can legally prevent me from going to my home, even if I have unpaid levies. But especially since we were still fighting in court.
“If I count all the cases and the interlocutory matters, I went to court 34 times because of this. Six months ago, we did the math and it has cost me R9.8m so far.”
The HOA claims Pienaar owes them close to R300,000 in unpaid levies and fines. Pienaar denies this and has engaged a forensic auditor to look at his financial dealings with Silver Lakes.
“We had a meeting with the HOA last Friday, and they had to write R500,000 back into my books for overcharging me. According to my auditor’s report, I owe them nothing,” Pienaar said.
“This dispute has caused serious issues in my financial life. If you tender for a government project, you will see in the documents that you can’t apply if you have been sequestrated or are in the process of being sequestrated.
“This has cost me millions and when it is over some day, the HOA can expect a serious civil lawsuit about the loss of income. I have given companies away and sold assets, just to survive.”
Several attempts have been made to engage Mr Pienaar in a constructive manner to reconcile his outstanding levy accounts, which on most occasions were ... unsuccessful.
— Silver Lakes golf and wildlife estate HOA
The HOA this week denied Pienaar’s claims, but said that because many of the matters between them were in court, they could not comment on all aspects of the dispute.
“Mr Pienaar is subject to the memorandum of incorporation, and more particularly the duty to pay levies. Unfortunately, Mr Pienaar has not been a stellar example as to the timely and punctual payment of levies, and pays levies as and when he feels the monies may or may not be due.
“This has been the case for more than a decade. In fact, the last time Mr Pienaar paid any levies was during June 2020.”
The HOA said Pienaar had caused his share of their court battles.
“It is not uncommon for Mr Pienaar to have instituted proceedings against the [association] only once these matters have been dealt with and finalised — on most occasions against him ... and [with] costs ... Mr Pienaar will then very quickly complain that the [association] is incurring legal expenses to defend or oppose these applications,” the HOA said.
“To the best of our knowledge, the dispute has to do with the extension of the initial building period, exacerbated by Mr Pienaar on several occasions either failing or refusing to pay levies or building penalties.
“Several attempts have been made to engage Mr Pienaar in a constructive manner to reconcile his outstanding levy accounts, which on most occasions were ... unsuccessful.
“The [association] is not aware of exactly why Mr Pienaar stopped paying levies. To suggest this was due to a protest would mean he has not paid levies since the genesis of the dispute, which is clearly not true.”
Is there any end in sight?
“Mr Pienaar has not made an offer acceptable to the Silver Lakes Homeowners Association. Until such time, the disputes unfortunately will have to continue.”
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