The common law of lease sets out certain reciprocal rights and duties of lessors and lessees. It also provides for sui generis aspects such as the lessor’s hypothec and the protection of the lessee under the huur gaat voor koop rule. The relatively uncomplicated manner in which the common law has addressed specific issues pertaining to the law of lease has however been influenced by recent legislation that have an impact on various aspects of lease. The Rental Housing Act 50 of 1999 has entrenched parameters for the exercise of certain rights by the lessor and lessee and has introduced Rental Housing Tribunals to deal with unfair leasing practices. The Prevention of Illegal Eviction of and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act 19 of 1998 has radically impacted on the process that a lessor has to follow where he wishes to evict a lessee who remains in occupation of a leased premises after lawful termination of a lease agreement. Most recently the introduction of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008, which came into full operation at the end of March 2011, appears to have a significant impact on the law of lease in those instances where the Act finds application to a lease agreement. In this regard it must be observed that the Consumer Protection Act impacts on a lease agreement that falls within its scope in two ways: on the one hand section 14 of the Act which regulates fixed term agreements may find specific application to a lease agreement that falls within the scope of application of the said section. On the other hand, there are certain ‘general’ provisions of the Act that will find application generally to lease agreements that fall within the scope of application of the Act , even if they do not fall within the specific scope of application of section 14. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate how the various pieces of legislation indicated herein , impact on the common law of lease . The main focus will eventually be the impact of the Consumer Protection Act as such impact still has to manifest in practice.It will thus be endeavoured to present a holistic view of the ‘changing face of the law of lease’ in South Africa. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Mercantile Law / unrestricted

Si l’on perçoit intuitivement la durée, il est plus délicat d’en donner une définition. L’exercice devient plus périlleux encore lorsqu’il s’agit de définir la durée des contrats administratifs. Face aux interrogations que sa définition et sa délimitation soulèvent, l’étude de la réglementation, de la jurisprudence ou de la doctrine publiciste n’est que peu instructive. La diversité du vocabulaire employé traduit les imprécisions de la notion étudiée. Parce qu’elle représente une donnée essentielle du contrat, à la fois objet et source de nombreuses réglementations, la notion de durée des contrats administratifs doit être définie. Son étude révèle une appréhension parcellaire de la notion par le droit public. Celui-ci n’envisage que la durée d’existence du contrat, qui est une durée juridique et prévisionnelle. Elle traduit le prisme sous lequel le droit public s’intéresse à la durée du contrat : c’est un outil d’encadrement de la rémunération du titulaire et d’organisation de la remise en concurrence régulière du contrat. À côté de cette durée d’existence, coexiste une durée d’exécution qui a pour caractéristique d’être une durée opérationnelle constituée d’un agrégat de délais. Si ces deux durées coïncident parfois parfaitement – ce qui explique leur confusion – cela n’est pas systématique. Elles possèdent, en outre, des fonctions distinctes qui justifient leur différenciation. Parce qu’elles représentent cependant les deux facettes d’une même notion, l’unité du régime de la durée prédomine. En ce domaine, c’est un mouvement d’influences réciproques mais d’inégale importance qui s’opère. Le contrat conditionne la durée : il régit sa fixation et son évolution. Dans le même temps, la durée influe sur le contrat. Celle-ci est en effet la source d’application d’éléments de régime au contrat et justifie l’intégration de certaines clauses au sein des contrats où son volume est important. / We can easily perceive the notion of duration. However, it is rather difficult to give it an exact definition. It becomes even more delicate when it comes to identify the duration of public contracts. Neither of the legal doctrine nor the legislation or case law are helpful in solving questions about both the definition and limit of a contract’s duration. The diversity of the legal vocabulary reveals the inaccuracy of this notion. However, the duration of public contracts has to be precisely identified as it is a crucial datum of any contract, as well as a source and the object of various existing rules. As far as the study of public contracts has lead us, we can only notice that the apprehension of their duration is fragmented. Public contract law exclusively develops one aspect of the duration, which represents the amount of time during which the contract stands. This shows how the notion of duration is analyzed: itis a sort of tool used in order to frame the contract holder’s wage, but also indicates when to use properly competitive procedures. It is correct to state that the duration identifies the period during which the contract stands, however, it covers another aspect, which we aim to expose here. The duration of contract also represents the amount of time during which the contract is fulfilled, or executed, which is composed by a sum of delays. These two aspects of duration may often coincide but this is not always the case. It must be noted that these two sides have different functions, which justifies why we study them separately. Nevertheless, the legal regime remains the same whether we talk about one aspect or another. At the end of this study, we can report mutual influences. The object of the contract conditions its very own duration as its clauses set its evolution through the execution. At the same time, the duration of the public contract conditions various elements of its regime, especially when the contract stands fora substantial period of time.