If the property purchased is occupied by a Tenant the lease agreement is more binding than an offer to purchase, which means that if the property purchased is currently leased to a tenant the buyer will be bound to honour the lease agreement. This is where the saying "Huur gaat voor koop" originated.

 In other words a purchaser is not allowed to evict the current tenant and has to wait until such time as the lease has expired before he can occupy the property purchased by him even if the transfer has been registered in the name of the new purchaser.

It is therefore very important before making an offer on a property to the seller that the purchaser establishes whether there is any valid lease agreements in place in respect of that property and if so, when the lease expires. 

The purchaser could end up paying a bond on a property which he purchased and which was registered in his name in the deeds office and not being able to take occupation of his new property.

If there is a current lease in place, then the lease agreement should be perused to establish what the rights of the tenants are and what notice period should be served by the seller on the tenant to enable the seller to give vacant occupation to the purchaser on registration of transfer of the property in his name.

If the necessary steps of notice are not taken by the current owner (the seller) and the notice not given to the tenant, the purchaser might end up having to take legal action against the tenant for eviction – a purchaser must therefore in his offer to purchase provide that the seller must give vacant occupation of the property to him on registration of the property in his name.