Pretoria - The Pretoria Society of Advocates is in negotiations with its landlord at its two chambers in the CBD in a bid to financially survive.
A liquidation application to declare it bankrupt is off the table for now, its chairperson Jannet Gildenhuys said.
She said they were doing all they could to ensure the survival of the organisation, also known as the Pretoria Bar.
According to Gildenhuys, the negotiations have been successful so far and she is confident the Pretoria Bar will be able to keep its doors open.
“We advised on May 23 that the Bar Council had resolved the previous day to take steps to apply for a provisional order of winding-up because it became clear that it would not be able to pay all its creditors beyond the end of May.
“On Monday, however, there were positive discussions between representatives of the society and the landlord of the two buildings in town – High Court Chambers and New Court Chambers.”
She said this was followed by a proposal from the landlord which formed the subject of further negotiations this week.
“The negotiations are ongoing. Should the parties be able to reach a final agreement, the need to bring a liquidation application may be averted,” she said.
She added that in view of this, the Bar Council resolved on Tuesday to continue and finalise the negotiations to enter into an agreement with the landlord.
They also suspended the decision to take steps to apply for a winding-up pending the finalisation of the negotiations.
Steps to liquidate the 120-year-old society were on the cards last week following financial difficulties to pay rent for the two buildings. The difficulties have been coming for some time as some of its members battled to pay the association for their office space.
Although most advocates have over the years moved to newer chambers in the suburbs, they were still liable as members of the Pretoria Bar to pay the rent for the two buildings in the CBD – including for the many empty offices at High Court Chambers.
While this has been tough on the members of this society, Covid-19 and its economic restrictions have made this even more difficult.
Gildenhuys said the society was a non-profit organisation which operated on the basis of recovering from its members their pro rata rent and expenses which are then used to pay its operational expenses and rental to the landlords of the buildings leased by the society and occupied by the advocates.
“The financial position of the society has been steadily deteriorating over a number of years for a variety of reasons, including mainly economic factors which have resulted in many members being unable to pay their professional expenses to the society.”
Gildenhuys said that due to the state of disaster, the deterioration had been rapid and severe and caused a large number of resignations and defaults. “Less than half of the High Court Chambers which used to house most advocates practicing in Pretoria is now occupied."
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