John Webber

John Webber

Director

John Webber is a Director of our Real Estate Law practice. He specialises in transactions related to commercial property, development of land and land use conversion, specifically from mining/agricultural to residential or industrial use, and all commercial transactions related thereto.  Additionally, has a long and established commitment to the low cost and affordable housing sector.

t +27 (0)11 562 1444 f +27 (0)11 562 1644
Career

John began his career in Bloemfontein before moving to Johannesburg to join EFK Tucker as head of their Conveyancing department. In November 2000 John joined Hofmeyr Herbstein and Gihwala (now Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr) as an Associate, was promoted to Senior Associate in 2001 and became a Director in 2003. John was the National Practice Head for Real Estate during 2017-2020.

  • Involved from the outset of the Waterfall mixed use development, where John attends to the establishment of new townships and all matters relating to the registration of long term leases of both commercial and residential property (in excess of 5000 properties).
  • Attended to the establishment of in excess of 75 new townships which includes more than 34,000 erven. New township includes all of the townships created in the Waterfall mixed use development in Midrand.
  • Involved in the transfer of 4,000 residential units from the City of Johannesburg to the current occupants of such rental housing stock in terms of the Regularisation and Transfer of Ownership Programme (RETRO) being run by the City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng Provincial Government: Department of Housing. Involved in the transfer of 2,500 erven in Cosmo City on behalf of the City of Johannesburg and the Cosmo City Joint Venture.
  • Acted on behalf of both the Provincial Government: Gauteng and private developers in the delivery of RDP houses and has attended to more than 12,500 transfers to beneficiaries of new houses in terms of the RDP housing subsidy scheme.
  • Major clients include: the Waterfall Management Company (Pty) Limited, Attacq Limited, Balwin Properties Limited, TUHF Limited, Context Property Solutions, Nedbank CPF (Affordable Housing Division), Rand Leases Properties (Pty) Limited, Century Property Developments, Atterbury Property Developments, Johannesburg Financial Securities (Pty) Limited group and its subsidiaries, the Cosmo City Joint Venture, the Gauteng Provincial Government: Department of Human Settlements and the Gauteng Partnership Fund.
  • Legal 500 EMEA 2018-2023 recommended John as leading individual for real estate.
  • Chambers Global 2021 - 2022 ranked John in Band 2 for Real Estate and from 2019-2020 he was ranked in Band 3 for Real Estate.

Education

  • BCom, University of the Free State
  • LLB, University of South Africa (UNISA)
  • Dip (Corporate Law), University of Johannesburg
  • Year of admission as an attorney and conveyancer: 1999
  • Registered with the Legal Practice Council
The long term lease
13 June 2022 Real Estate Law

The long term lease

Kirsty de Sousa conducts an insightful conversation with Real Estate Law expert, John Webber where he answers a few questions and helps explain what a long-term lease is, how it is created, the ability to finance such acquisition and the general expectation of lessees in such a property developments.

Listen to podcast Duration 15:31 Minutes
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