Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Masters of Technology degree in Cost and Management Accounting, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / The National Credit Act No. 34 of 2005 (NCA) was introduced by the South African government mainly to bring about accessibility to credit markets, protect consumers from malpractices and market abuses by credit providers and reduce consumer over indebtedness. As a result, credit providers are compelled to apply stringent rules and regulations when assessing a credit consumer’s affordability prior to granting home loans. This study aims at investigating the impact of the NCA on the affordability of home loans within the Pinetown metropolitan area. The literature review presents an overall view of affordability of home loans in developed and emerging countries and also provides an in-depth explanation of factors that affect affordability of home loans in South Africa. The predominant factors, amongst others that hinder the housing market, are: an increase in house prices; elevated interest rates and household debt which include inflation, transportation cost and low wage increase. A mixed methods approach was utilized for the research, analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data. Respondents (home loan borrowers) completed a questionnaire by indicating if assessments were conducted in terms of their affordability prior to the approval of their home loan and their view on the impact that the NCA had on their home loan. The data suggested strongly that credit providers had conducted proper credit and affordability assessments prior to granting home loans and that most home loan borrowers’ level of debt had remained stable since acquiring their home loans as they continue to meet their debts. An overall analysis revealed that the application of the NCA had a positive impact on the affordability of home loans in the research area and that compliance with NCA, when granting credit, resulted in the reduction of reckless lending, a decline in the level of consumer indebtedness and a reduction in payment default.

LL.M. (Corporate Law) / Jurisdictions employ several legal methods to regulate loans made by shareholders to companies. This dissertation explores the legal mechanisms employed by Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom as well as Australia that align to the recommendations of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in respect of shareholder loans and seeks to answer the question whether South Africa should adopt similar mechanisms. German law complies fully with the UNCITRAL recommendations by providing for the automatic subordination of shareholder claims in respect of loans as well as the avoidance of repayments and security interests made and registered within a certain period of the commencement of insolvency proceedings. German law also contains avoidance provisions specific to transactions between the debtor and a shareholder that cause detriment to a third-party creditor and general avoidance provisions which provide for certain presumptions to apply in the case of transactions concluded between the company and a shareholder. In the United States the doctrine of equitable subordination is legislated and applies in the event that the debtor is thinly-capitalised and mismanaged and legislative provision is made for the avoidance of preference transactions concluded between a creditor and a debtor, which provide for a longer avoidance period in the case of a transaction concluded with a shareholder. In addition to full legislative compliance with the UNCITRAL recommendation relating to shareholder transactions, the wide powers given to the courts to uphold bankruptcy legislation is codified and led to the development of the doctrine of recharacterization, which entails shareholder loans being treated as equity contributions in certain circumstances. The United Kingdom does not contain legal provisions relating to the subordination of shareholder claims and thus does not comply fully with the UNCITRAL recommendations relating to shareholder loans. However, it does provide specifically for a longer avoidance period in respect of preference transactions involving shareholders and certain presumptions to be applied in the case of transactions concluded between the debtor company and a shareholder.

published_or_final_version / Law / Master / Master of Laws

This dissertation considers the failure of the Japanese government from 1991 through late-1998 to take measures to bring swiftly under control the threat to the nation's finance system posed by nonperforming loans that arose with the collapse of the late-1980s land-price bubble. While some works plausibly argue that this record of delay, and a larger failure of the Japanese state to adjust its general economic policy strategy, can be attributed largely to a progressive fracturing of a 1950s consensus on basic economic policy objectives between relatively internationally competitive firms and firms more dependent on state protection of their business opportunities, this insight has led few scholars to enquire into the role played by advocates of the policy interests of Japan's most competitive large firms in producing the widely lamented policy of delay on nonperforming loans. Counter to the literature's preponderant emphasis on political pressure from protection-dependent firms as impediment to swift state adjustment to nonperforming loans and other economic policy challenges of the late-20th century Japanese state, this dissertation finds that state officials and expert commentators who in debates on nonperforming loans and closely related policy issues strongly advocated dismantling protections on which large numbers of firms depended and in their stead adopting policies more favorable to the firms best able to weather the harsh economic conditions of the 1990s, displayed willingness to tolerate further delay comparable to (and sometimes greater than) that shown by state officials and expert commentators who advocated greater solicitude for the protection-dependent. This finding is based chiefly on a reading of official Ministry of Finance policy statements, transcripts of hearings of relevant Japanese House of Representatives committees, public opinion polls, reporting and commentary published in two national-circulation and two local Japanese newspapers, and a variety of books and longer articles published in the mass-audience Japanese business press. This finding, I argue, suggests a need for more sustained critical analysis of the role of leading business interests in Japan's political processes, which in turn argues for a closer engagement than is now commonly attempted with the work of Karl Marx and Chalmers Johnson, and for following up some preliminary suggestions in the existing literature of an emergent economic policy dimension of Diet party competition. / text

Money lenders frequently use sale and lease back agreements as an alternative to other more conventional forms of security. These agreements are popular because they are simple and inexpensive to put in place. Unfortunately, South African courts give legal effect to the true intention of contracting parties. Sale and lease back agreements are often held to be simulated contracts and as such they are enforced as disguised pledges. One of the few alternative security options available to money lenders, is a notarial bond registered in terms of the Security By Means of Movable Property Act 57 of 1993. This act has been criticised for creating an ineffective form of security that is costly and cumbersome to put in place. It is suggested that the current security options available to money lenders are supplemented with the creation of a more user friendly public register for the registration of security interests. / Private Law / LL.M.

Money lenders frequently use sale and lease back agreements as an alternative to other more conventional forms of security. These agreements are popular because they are simple and inexpensive to put in place. Unfortunately, South African courts give legal effect to the true intention of contracting parties. Sale and lease back agreements are often held to be simulated contracts and as such they are enforced as disguised pledges. One of the few alternative security options available to money lenders, is a notarial bond registered in terms of the Security By Means of Movable Property Act 57 of 1993. This act has been criticised for creating an ineffective form of security that is costly and cumbersome to put in place. It is suggested that the current security options available to money lenders are supplemented with the creation of a more user friendly public register for the registration of security interests. / Private Law / LL.M.