A CALL to establish a dedicated municipal court to urgently deal with problem properties was made at the recent Ward 33 Problem Property Forum community meeting where residents bemoaned the slow enforcement of by-laws regulating the rezoning of properties in eThekwini which they say has led to the deterioration and decline of their properties.

Niki Moore, a member of the Problem Property Forum committee, said that out of 170 complaints that have been filed by the civic movement since last year, only two have been resolved by the city. “The problem is not with the inspectors, it’s the fact that there is one court that sits for one day a month and can only look at 30 cases at a time, that is if there are no cancellations or delays,” said Moore, who encouraged resident to continue logging their complaints via the forum website.

She raised concern with declining property values, which was linked to the rising number of student properties and the uncontrolled densification of the Ward. Coupled with the City’s slow service delivery, Moore said that a plan and action was needed from residents to fight this decline.

“The City is obliged to evaluate your property every four years, but at any point you can lodge an appeal for an evaluation and be rated accordingly. At the moment we are paying exorbitant amounts and yet we are not getting the services from the municipality which has led to the decline of our property values. The City must rate us accordingly,” said Moore.

Also Read: Councillor cracks down on problem properties in Ward 33

“We are appealing to people to join our co-ordinated rates dispute. If your property has been devalued because you live next to a student property, we can help identify the property values in your area and log a dispute. We want to put all of these together and go to the municipality with these objections and appeals. They will have to do something about it.”

The second part of the plan, according Moore, is to one day take over certain parts of service delivery to the area. “There are provisions in the legislations, what is required is an entity, like a ratepayers association or forum such as this. It must be a civic organisation, that can go up to the municipality and say, ‘You guys are not filling in potholes and don’t have the staff, so we want to conclude a service agreement with you. We fill in the pothole and you pay us.’ The municipality is mandated to appoint a community service provider. This is part of a long-term plan, where we can form an entity and get the municipality to notice us through the rates appeal,” said Moore.

This was supported by some of the residents, with one suggesting joining other eThekwini ratepayers in withholding rates payments. Ward 33 is recorded as being home to over 10 000 students who live in 324 NSFAS-registered properties.

For more information or to be part of the Problem Property Forum, contact Ward 33 councillor Fran Kristopher via email: cllr.frankay@gmail.com

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