De Jager v Sisana

In De Jager v Sisana, an important case in the South African law of lease, a squatter named Sisana occupied a portion of a farm under an agreement with its owner. Under this agreement, Sisana supplied the owner with certain labour in consideration for the right of occupation.

When the land was sold, the purchaser and new landowner, De Jager, having knowledge of the agreement between Sisana and the previous owner, was willing to continue the agreement as was set before. Sisana, however, refused to work for the new owner, taking up the position that he would only render services to the former owner, although he still claimed the right to remain on the land.

The court held that De Jager was entitled to an order evicting Sisana from the farm. One who purchases such land with knowledge of the agreement between its former owner and the squatter is, of course, bound by the terms of that agreement, but Sisana lost any rights he might have had against De Jager by declining to render the services to him.

The contract of a squatter, then, is not that of a tenant or lessee; it is an innominate contract under which the services of the squatter are due to the owner of the farm, who made the contract, and no one else; and the right of a purchaser of the farm to eject the squatter is not affected by notice of the existence of the contract on the part of the purchaser of the farm at the date of purchase.

The Appellate Division held that, to establish a contract of lease, the litigant must show that there was a particular thing let for a specified time and that, in return for the use of occupation of the thing, the lessee undertook to pay rent.