Dozens of buildings in Johannesburg have had their lights and water disconnected because the council is pursuing an aggressive credit control policy. However, building owners say that billing errors from the council are complicating matters.
Residential property manager, Trafalgar, applied to the Johannesburg High Court for an order instructing the council to restore services to buildings in Parktown and Braamfontein after these were suspended allegedly for non-payment.
Jackie Matthew of Trafalgar says that it has been impossible to get accurate accounts from the council for the buildings. Apparently the council cut-offs had been implemented without any prior warning.
Constantia Sectional Title has had services to 30 of its buildings disconnected while the Status Mark group says that the services were suspended at four of its buildings. According to Paul Cummings, the company has hired a utility administration consultant to sort out about 50 bills that are believed to be inaccurate.
To complicate matters the council insists that certain amounts must be paid even though the property management company or the landlords dispute these amounts.
However, Stan Maphologela says the reason for the suspension of services is that the city is now pursuing an aggressive credit control policy. He says that when services are paid then the council will be happy to investigate any billing complaints.
Apparently the unpaid bills from sectional title units form a large proportion of the city's debtors.
Readers' Comments Have a comment about this article? Email us now.