Buying a Home
What Is a Voetstoots Clause? What It Means for Home Buyers
2 min readBy Kwantu Homes
Nearly every resale property sale agreement in South Africa includes a voetstoots clause South Africa buyers should understand before signing, not after. The word comes from Dutch, meaning literally "with the shove of a foot", and today it simply means the property is sold "as is", in its current condition, faults and all.
What Voetstoots Actually Means for You
When you buy voetstoots, you accept the home in its existing state and generally can't come back to the seller demanding repairs or a price reduction for defects you should have caught. It protects sellers from being blamed for problems they genuinely didn't know about.
Understanding Patent and Latent Defects
This is the distinction that matters most. Patent and latent defects work very differently under a voetstoots clause:
Patent defects are visible or obvious on a reasonable inspection, cracked tiles, a broken window, a leaking tap. Under an as is property sale, you generally can't claim for these afterward, since you had the chance to spot them
Latent defects are hidden problems not reasonably discoverable during a normal viewing, like a roof leak that only appears in heavy rain, or faulty wiring behind a wall
The Exception That Actually Protects You
Here's what most people miss. A voetstoots clause does not protect a seller who knew about a serious latent defect and deliberately hid it. If you can prove the seller was aware of the problem and concealed it, or misrepresented the property to mislead you, you may still have a valid claim, even with voetstoots in the contract.
What the Consumer Protection Act Changes
The Consumer Protection Act voetstoots interaction matters if you're buying from a seller acting in the ordinary course of business, such as a developer or estate agency selling its own stock, rather than a private individual selling their family home. In those cases, the CPA can limit how much protection the voetstoots clause actually gives the seller, since consumers are entitled to certain implied quality guarantees.
Protecting Yourself Before You Sign
A few practical steps matter far more than hoping for the best:
Ask the seller to complete a seller disclosure form listing any known defects, even though it's not a legal requirement, it's strong evidence later if problems surface
Arrange your own independent inspection before signing, covering roof, plumbing, electrics, and structural condition
Read the sale agreement carefully for exactly how the voetstoots clause is worded, since wording does vary
Keep records of everything the seller tells you verbally about the property's condition
Where This Doesn't Apply
Worth remembering, if you're buying off-plan or new, this entire conversation looks different. New homes come with NHBRC warranty protection instead of a voetstoots situation, since there's no existing defect history to worry about.
Want to see what you'd qualify for either way? Try our free two-minute pre-approval quiz and get a real number to work with.
Common questions
Does a voetstoots clause mean I have zero protection as a buyer?
No. It doesn't protect a seller who knowingly concealed a serious defect or misrepresented the property. Your main protection against genuinely hidden problems comes from proving the seller's knowledge and concealment, not the clause itself.
What's the difference between patent and latent defects?
Patent defects are visible on a reasonable inspection, like cracked tiles, and you generally can't claim for these under voetstoots. Latent defects are hidden problems you couldn't reasonably have spotted, and these carry more protection if the seller knew and hid them.
Does voetstoots apply when buying a new development?
No. New developments are covered under NHBRC warranty instead, so the voetstoots "as is" concept mainly applies when buying an existing resale home from a private seller.
