WHAT IS AN OCCUPANCY CERTIFICATE? WHY DO YOU NEED IT?
“Cheops’ Law: Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget” (Robert A. Heinlein) Hopefully you won’t have to wait 20 years for your new dream home to be built – that’s how long Cheops (ancient Egyptian Pharaoh) had to hang around twiddling his thumbs whilst his Great Pyramid of Giza was going up – […]
MUNICIPALITIES CANNOT HOLD YOU LIABLE FOR OLD PROPERTY DEBT
On Monday, 7 November 2016 the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled that if someone buys a property that has an outstanding municipal-related debt to it – incurred by the previous owner(s) – the new owner cannot be held responsible for paying that debt. The court ruled that the practice by the City of […]
METER WARS: A CONSUMER STRIKES BACK
“You can’t fight city hall” (old idiom decrying the futility of trying to fight a bureaucracy) You challenge the accuracy of a services account from your local municipality, thus: “Your meter must be wrong, no way was my consumption that high.” The reply: “We’ve tested the meter and it works fine. Pay up or face […]
RATES UP AFTER A PROPERTY REVALUATION? OBJECT, BUT DO IT PROPERLY!
“The mere lodging of an objection, however ill-founded, does not trigger an obligation to furnish detailed reasons for the underlying decision relating to the valuation of the property” (extract from judgment below) Your local municipality is entitled to revalue your property (with reference to recent sales of similar properties in your area) at regular intervals. […]
CONTRACTING WITH A COMPANY: CHECK FOR DIRECTOR AUTHORITY!
A recent High Court judgment reminds us once again of how important it is, when dealing with a company, to check that whichever director/s you are dealing with is/are fully authorised to bind the company. R3.8m in claims attacked A liquidation application was launched against a property developing company with 3 directors, The applicant creditor […]
“DEMOLISH OR GO TO JAIL”: DEVELOPER IN THE DOGHOUSE
“….. a lenient approach ….. would also lead to an open invitation to members of the public to follow the course adopted by the [developer] and to continue with the construction of buildings and structures in circumstances where the authority therefor has not been obtained from the relevant municipality” (From judgment below) 30 days […]