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Thread: Tshwane Municipality

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    Gold Member Chrisjan B's Avatar
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    Thumbs down Tshwane Municipality

    Hello All
    We have a small flat in Tshwane that we are renting out via an agent. In May the rent was paid late and I start to investigate. The flat does not have a prepaid meter and we are now taking legal steps to evict the tenant. As part of all this his electricity account were asked and I found out that he did not pay a single cent since he moved in. Can somebody maybe inform why the municipality did not disconnected his electricity yet?

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    Tshwane has major billing problems, complete buildings with unpaid electricity\ rates\ taxes etc... but still getting services...

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    Diamond Member AndyD's Avatar
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    You need to be careful with tenant accounts such as Telkom and Eskom. They invariably prefer to chase the property owner rather than the tenant for outstanding amounts even though the account may be in the tenants name. I got blacklisted a few years ago for one of my tenants unpaid accounts which for some unexplained reason they attributed to myself after a year of failing to collect from the tenant. It cost me time and money to get the blacklisting reversed with legal action.
    Last edited by AndyD; 30-Jun-11 at 08:44 PM.
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    From what I understand, my letting agent says that some part of the law states that the owner of the property is ultimately liable for the services used. Therefore I was advised to change to a prepaid electricity meter at a rental flat I have as I had a similar problem like AndyD

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    Gold Member Chrisjan B's Avatar
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    Thank you AndyD and JWalker, look like I'm in for a lot of trouble.

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    Quote Originally Posted by chrismine View Post
    Thank you AndyD and JWalker, look like I'm in for a lot of trouble.
    Big trouble from my experience. A few years back we eventually received only R30'000 for a property worth over R600'000 due to the massive arrears on electricity and water (It was a factory that had a fairly high monthly bill). Hurt like hell, but can only chalk it up to experience.

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Has anyone tackled the metro for negligence?

    I'm thinking of an argument along the lines of:
    There is the policy (disconnect after x period in arrears).
    The metro failed to apply the policy.
    This failure has predjudiced the landlord and the metro should be held liable for the losses the landlord has incurred as a result.

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    I fear that legal action against a municipality would be a costly affair and in addition, the counter argument is that it is the landlords responsability to monitor the utility bill.

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    Quote Originally Posted by BusFact View Post
    I fear that legal action against a municipality would be a costly affair
    or they might settle to avoid a precedent being set. Agreed though, it would take quite a bill to justify risking the legal costs. Just wondered out loud whether anyone had tried yet.

    But arguing the potential case could be fun
    So:

    Quote Originally Posted by BusFact View Post
    the counter argument is that it is the landlords responsability to monitor the utility bill.
    And how, pray tell, is the landlord supposed to establish whether the tenant's electricity bill has been paid or not?

    Does the metro notify the landlord when a bill is sent to the tenant?
    Does the metro notify the landlord when a payment is made?
    Does the metro notify the landlord when a payment is not made?
    Does the metro notify the landlord when the metro enters into contract with a tenant to provide an electrical supply?
    Is the landlord a signatory on the contract to supply electricity to the tenant?

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    Diamond Member AndyD's Avatar
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    These were basically the arguments we used along with the pile of bills that had accumulated for the tenant. It didn't go to court luckily but it did take nearly six months of constant pressure to get the outstanding account back in the tenants name. The legal bills were marginally more than the outstanding account at the end of it
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