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Attorney accused of stealing house
A couple in Tongaat fight on to prevent their former attorney from evicting them from their home.
Radesh and Deshia Naidoo have accused Godfrey Pillay for taking their home which they had lived in for many years, but wait for the Durban High Court to come up with a final verdict. The attorney claims that they had an agreement which authorised him to be in possession of the house. The Naidoos filed papers in the Durban High Court last month preventing Pillay, of Godfrey and Associates and an attorney with the KwaZulu Natal Law Society, from taking their home without their consent.
Earlier this month, a judge said that the matter was pending until the court released a full report determining which party had acted against the law. The Naidoos' legal representative, attorney Leon Dunn, told the Northern Star that they would remain in their house until the court made a decision. Early last month, the court requested that the KZN Law Society probe the allegations levelled against Pillay within 30 days. The Law Society found that both their attorneys had acted unprofessionally during the process.
In papers filed in court, the law firm stated that the latter had acted in an unprofessional, dishonourable or unworthy manner. In a letter submitted to court, the couple stated that Pillay had transferred their house to his wife Poovendrie Pillay, also an attorney at Godfrey and Associates, in October last year. The Naidoos approached the high court to get an interdict which would compel the KZN Law Society to probe their allegations and prevent Pillay from evicting them from their house. In the affidavit brought to court, Naidoo stated that he had borrowed money from another attorney, who threatened to sell his house if he failed to pay him back. He then approached Pillay for assistance. He said Pillay told him that he would give him R100 000 in order to settle the debt. Naidoo then signed an agreement with him, the terms of which were that he would pay Pillay R2 500 on a monthly basis. The court heard that he made regular payments until he lost his job.In October this year, Pillay threatened to evict them from their house and it was only then that Naidoo realised that his house was registered in Poovendrie Pillay’s name.
According to the KZN Law Society, the Pillays claim that Naidoo had agreed to sell the house for an amount of R100 000. Naidoo then signed a lease agreement in which he would pay rent of R2 000 a month. The KZN Law Society alleged that Naidoo only paid rent once, and eviction proceedings were then instituted. The report also notes that the house could have been worth more than R100 000 at the time. It is alleged that the title deed in which the bond was registered was a copy and the signature on the affidavit did not resemble that of Naidoo’s. The matter is continuing until the court releases its verdict. When the Northern Star contacted Pillay for comment, he stated that he was in a meeting and could not comment on the case.
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