What you need to know about illegal land use laws

Ward 73 councillor Eleanor Huggett is encouraging property owners to follow strict land use processes or face the full might of the law.

According to the councillor, there have been complaints from various sectors of society regarding illegal land use and she urges developers to follow municipal bylaws first, before considering developing their land.

“Any new building and any alteration that adds on to or changes the structure of an existing building must go to the City of Johannesburg’s Development Management department for approval,” advised Huggett.

The following processes are followed by the City to deals with land use complaints:

• An illegal land use complaint is received in respect of a particular property
• The complaint is registered and allocated a reference number
• A complaint file is opened
• The file is sent to the manager of the area concerned, i.e. Region E
• The manager allocates the file to a law enforcement officer to investigate the complaint
• The officer collects relevant information about the property including its present zoning and then inspects the site
• If a land use zoning contravention is found, a notice (T341) is issued to the property occupant/business owner as well as a notice (TP19) to the registered property owner, giving the parties 28 days to discontinue the illegal use
• The officer revisits the property after the expiry of the 28-day notice period. If the illegal use has not been terminated, then the officer returns the file to the manager, together with an inspection report and the finding that the contravention is continuing unabated
• The manager then refers the matter to the head of planning control who is responsible for appointing an attorney to take further legal action in the form of obtaining a court order against the property owner, to terminate the illegal use
• Resolution of the complaint is achieved if no contravention is found in the first instance or, alternatively, if the contravention is terminated either following the serving of the initial TP20 notice by the law enforcement officer or else following completion of the legal process by the City’s attorney. This legal process may, however, be very lengthy and time-consuming, particularly if the property owner chooses to contest the matter.
• The complaint may also be partially or completely resolved if the required land use zoning rights are obtained by the property owner through means such as a rezoning or consent-use application submitted to the City.

“Any legal action that may be in progress at the time of submission of such an application may be temporarily suspended by the City if there is a likelihood that the application will be approved by the City.”

Details: Eleanor Huggett 071 785 8068.

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