PROPERTY owners are responsible for keeping their properties well maintained whether they live outside the country or not. That’s the message from eThekwini Municipality who said owners who did not look after and properly maintain their properties and allowed them to fall into decay were impacting negatively on surrounding neighbouring properties.
This is been the case in Prospect Road Umbilo where neighbour, Isabella Whittaker has complained of her neighbour’s overgrown property for years. Although the property was recently cut, it has become overgrown again and Whittaker says her son has even tried to cut buck the overgrowth at the rear of the property himself on numerous occasions but is unable to keep up with the ever-spreading bush.
“There seem to be people living in the house, which is falling apart and the garden is totally overgrown. I don’t know how anyone can live in the house. You can’t even get out the back door as the garden is so overgrown. I have tried to find the owner of the house to have something done, but have had no joy. I have also tried phoning the municipality because a permanent solution is needed,” she said.
Whittaker said mosquitoes, snakes and rats breeding in the bush had also become a problem. “The municipality sent someone to spray the gutters,” she said, adding that she had also called out people to put down rat poison.
According to eThekwini Head of Communications, Tozi Mthethwa, the matter had been investigated by city officials.
“A municipal official visited the site this week and found that grass on the site was recently cut. The property is also fenced. The city has established that the property is on private land. The onus lies with the landowner to protect his or her property or surrender it to council should they find it difficult to maintain and protect. The municipality therefore, does not have the power to act in the absence of an official letter, preferably endorsed by the court of law asking for the city to intervene.”
She said if the grass on the property was being cut, it was probably being done by the owner.
“If the landowner requires the grass to be cut by council, they have to complete the necessary forms and the cost for cutting the grass will be offset against the owner’s rates. However, the municipality does make every attempt to track down the owner whether they are in the country or not. Some owners abandon their buildings and emigrate. We also have cases of deceased estates which take much longer to resolve,” she said.
