Help with sectional title

Tony

Tony

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Honeydew, Johannesburg
I know this is totally contrary to what the forum stands for but I find myself in a bind and I was wondering if there were any legal people out there who can help me.

As you know in sectional titles we are now paying levies and water straight to the city of joburg. My problem is that I am still being billed for water by my body corporate and by the city of joburg.

Is this right and who can I complain to as the body corporate is not interested in listening to me? Any help would be appreciated
 
the body corp has to give you a detailed breakdown of your bill

if they dont then you just keep writing to them till they answer. Send 1 letter a week for 4 weeks

then reduce your leavy by the amount you pay to Joburg council.

dont let the body corp bully you, let them fine you but you must keep paying your leavy less water

now comes the fun part, you insist that you go to arbitration or court, guess what, you win hands down

remeber most important keep paying leavy less water and keep note of all correspondance of dates and times.

These guys are scared or arbitration and your legal bill will be zero
 
Thanks for the info. Are you an attorney by any chance or is this something you have experience with? The crazy thing is they bill me more than the city of Jo'burg or vice versa and the two bills are never the same considering it's the same meter.
 
i agree 100% with silver, my brother is in property will also ask him
 
just spoke to my brother, you only pay rates and taxes to joburg directly, water and light should still be paid to body corp, just check they not charging u rates and taxes
 
Do you have an individual water meter? If not you should not be paying water to the City.
 
joburg charges for rates, sewrage and refuse removal but depending were you live in joburg they have started reading electricity meetings as well

water is always part of the leavy unless you have your own water meter
 
Ok, I am a member of a body Corp here in Durban, but not sure if the law differs in Jo.

Per sectional Title Unit
  • Levies are paid to BC (Body Corp) or Managing Agents not to CC (city council).
  • Water, if seperate meters are used, then paid directly to CC.
  • Rates are paid to CC
  • Electricity paid to CC
So what are Levies charged for ?
  • Electricity for common property
  • water for common property (which may include all units avg. water use if no individual water meter)
  • Insurances
  • maintenence
  • common property Rates
  • council service costs
  • all other Common "services"
Can't understand why you get charged by both ends, basically if you have individual meters then you will pay for your water direct to CC, and a "shared" amount of the common water used on your Levies, If you do not have individual meters, all water used is divided by the number of units. Bearing in mind, BC can vary from one to another....

Hope that helps
 
Hey dude. Since we went sectional title here at my place. I had to see to 122 flats all with this type of nonsence. We agreed to ignore the municipalities letters and paid directly into the managing agents account (Wakefields in my case). It took about 6 months to sort things out as the Municipality had no idea what was going on. It is all sorted and we now only pay Wakefields. They straightened it out with the Municipality. Im a director of the building.
 
Meks, but it would still reflect on thier books as individual accounts, just that Wakefields pay on your behalf, and you pay them. But I'm sure they have an excuse to bill you for the transaction?
 
Tony , if you are being billed by the City coucil, then I take it that you own the unit and not just renting. As an owner you are a member of the body corporate and have a right to obtain financials from trustees and Managing agent together with minutes of trustee meetings. These will tell you where the money is going to. If the trustees / managing agent are charging you incorrectly, they need to be brought to account. Remember the trustees are elected by the body corporate members and are there to administer the sectional title on behalf of the body corporate.
 
I spoke to a neighbour last night and it turns out that I am to pay water and electricity to the body corporate as they have guys reading the meters and not to city of joburg. So it looks like the COJ has been charging me for rates which is correct and water which they should not. So my fight is with the council which I am not looking forward to.
 
Tony said:
I spoke to a neighbour last night and it turns out that I am to pay water and electricity to the body corporate as they have guys reading the meters and not to city of joburg. So it looks like the COJ has been charging me for rates which is correct and water which they should not. So my fight is with the council which I am not looking forward to.
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OK, but do you have individual meters?
 
Most complexes have individual meters which show each persons use. The city reads the external one, with the Body Corporate being responsible for paying for the water usage etc.
 
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