EDITOR – Regarding Carte Blanche's coverage of Municipality debts charged to purchasers or new owners of property.
It is interesting to observe the public furore that has been created by the recent Carte Blanche coverage of this issue. The problem is not new by any means, but the power of television has made it a public affair.
Undoubtedly municipalities should not be doing this. If they had their house in order, it would be a simple matter to make sure all arrears or historical debt related to a property is recovered from the seller or owner of property before a rates clearance is issued. That is the simple and fair solution (in principle).
The truth of course is that most municipalities are far from well organised – either now or in the past. The root cause is a combination of system failure and people deficiencies. The result is they are not able to reliably determine when issuing a rates clearance whether there is a historical debt or not.
So, as and when they wake up and discover unpaid debt relating to a property, they simply take the easy route and demand it from whoever happens to be asking them for a clearance certificate or utilities connection at the time. They claim authority for doing this from a certain court case that holds that historical debt is a charge against the property regardless of who the owner might currently be.
I believe this is distorted thinking and a totally inequitable process! Debts are owed by people not by inanimate objects like property. Municipal debt relative to immovable property should only be recoverable from the owner of the property at the time the debt arose. Legislation should be introduced to regulate this and prevent the abuse which is currently exacted by municipalities upon innocent and unsuspecting purchasers.
David van Onselen
Senior conveyancer
Tate Nolan and Knight Inc.
Durban North
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