Debora Gerber is on a quest to get the City of Ekurhuleni to refund her the outstanding balance on her account after the sale of her Primrose house.

ALSO READ: How to fund your home renovation

Debora and her husband, Willem, sold their house in Primrose in 2020. Their account had to be closed once it was cleared of all municipal bills.

“We were tasked to pay municipal fees for three upcoming months upfront. Once the selling process is complete and the accounts transferred to the new homeowner, the remaining amount is supposed to be transferred back to or account.

“We have been trying to get the City of Ekurhuleni to pay back the remaining amount of R5 193. When we did our enquiry at the municipal offices, we were told the amount has been paid to our lawyer. We have checked with them a number of times,” explained Gerber.

City of Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the process of selling a house is as follow.
• Verify the stand number of the property and relevant documents are attached by the attorneys.
• Attorneys applies for clearance figures of the account.
• Verify latest readings and make sure all is uploaded in the system as well as owing amounts.
• The city then issues a clearance figure to the transferring attorneys as per request, which is the account outstanding and four months’ prepayment.

“Once clearance figures are paid in full, the city issues the Rates Clearance Certificate to transferring attorneys, to register the property in Deeds Office, and the new owner opens a new account,” said Dlamini.

“The refund is captured and authorised later after a weekly run is sent to expenditure section for payment. We can only capture refund once deposit is paid by the new owner, rates are charged on new owner’s account, and meters are transferred to a new owner,” Dlamini said.