Debt ruling not yet valid

THE Ray Nkonyeni Municipality legal department is studying a recent Pretoria High Court ruling that municipalities cannot hold new property owners responsible for the previous owners’ unpaid municipal services bills.

This ruling has far-reaching consequences for many property owners who have inherited years of historical municipal debt and who have been refused municipal services until the accounts have been settled. According to a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling handed down earlier this year, municipalities can hold property owners liable for debt dating back as far as 30 years.

Although a seller may not transfer a property unless all municipal bills have been paid for the last two years, section 118(3) of the Local Government Municipal System Act places the responsibility of paying older debt on the new owner.

Last week Judge Dawie Fourie declared the provisions of this section unconstitutional.

His ruling was applauded by many estate agents and property owners in KwaZulu-Natal, but their applause has proved premature. According to news reports, eThekweni Municipality is still holding new owners responsible for historic debt. This is because the Pretoria High Court decision is not legally binding in KwaZulu-Natal. The Constitutional Court will first have to ratify the decision.

Ray Nkonyeni Municipality spokesman Simon April said the municipal legal department would advise the collections department accordingly, after it had studied the ruling in detail. He said the municipality did its best not to wait too long to collect debt. However, it was sometimes hard to track registered property owners down.

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