Summary Judgement:

If you or the Attorney acting on your behalf enters an appearance to defend then the Attorney acting on behalf of the Bank or Financial Institution will apply for summary judgement against you which is an application heard in open Court whereby they plead in affidavits, amongst other things that you have only entered an appearance to defend to delay the matter. Your Attorney acting on your behalf will explain the entire process to you when its at summary judgement as you can either bring an affidavit resisting the summary judgement but you need to have good and valid reasons to bring before the Court and you must be very careful with lying on the affidavits as the Bank or Financial Institutions Attorney can open a criminal case against you for lying on the affidavits and its seen in a very serious light. Advocates are briefed on both sides to attend to this matter.

Generally when a summary judgement application has been served and filed on your Attorneys, the general practice is that arrangements are made with the Attorneys for payment of the arrears and to postpone the application for summary judgement for two weeks pending settlement of the arrears and all this is put in writing. Should payment not be made in terms of the arrangements, the summary judgement application is set down again for hearing.

Once the Court hears the matter then they either grant judgement in favour of the Bank or Financial Instutition and you are then listed on ITC with the judgement against your name and the matter then moves again to an unopposed basis and the Bank / Financial Institution then drafts a writ of attachment to attach the property.

Should the Court grant you leave to defend this matter becomes an opposed matter and it goes through the normal channels of an opposed matter which eventually gets set down for trial.