eThekwini Municipality has moved from bad to worse with regards to rates clearance certificates. The latest response from council to our concerns being:
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Dear Mark
Your Mail of the 13th has reference.
Firstly please accept our apology for not issuing RCC's
within the initial 10day period.
We have high volumes and internal matters to deal with to
ensure that the figures provided does not compromise Council or the purchaser.
I note your analysis of our problem but I can assure you
that the process highlighted by yourself is not so easy and simple as set out
in your mail, if it was that simple without any manual interaction it would
have been possible, but we have to make sure that all debt are called for,
including debt where services were consumed without the owner or the tenant
signing for the consumption.
We are looking in improving by re-engineering some of the
processes and this should be completed within the next three months this
includes the appointment of further staff.
If you encourage your applicants to contact the City
directly it will not improve the process but rather slow it down.
Hope you will understand and I can assure you, the city
is committed to a better service.
Regards
--
Peet Du Plessis
Head: Revenue Management
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Rest assured, Mc Naught and Company are not leaving the matter there and are actively pursuing the matter with council further to try and reach a workable solution that will not have an incredibly negative impact on the entire Greater Durban property market.
Watch this space for updates.
My daughter gave me a back massage voucher at Christmas, but being the busy person I am the 6 month "expiry" date on the voucher soon passed and finding the voucher also proved difficult. However, all is not lost. In terms of the Consumer Protection Act a voucher may not expire before 3 years has passed from date of issue.. that means I got my massage after all! Sure, this could be difficult for businesses whose prices over the 3 years escalate. To overcome this, I would recommend to businesses issuing vouchers that they either put a value on the voucher and make the voucher valid for goods or services up to the stipulated value, or a clause needs to be added... something to this effect - "Should the voucher be used beyond 6 months from date of issue, the company reserves the right to require payment of the difference between the value of the service at time of issue and the date of use of the voucher." This should be fair to all concerned.
It is common to use a General Power of Attorney or a Special Power of Attorney to sign documents - sale agreement and conveyancing documents if you want someone to step in for you if you are leaving for overseas, going on holiday etc.
With the changing information requirements of the Transfer Duty Department, rates Department and FICA, there is always too much information required of your Sellers and Buyers.
4. A sale of agricultural land being sub-divided is not valid unless the consent of the Minister is obtained first. Sales containing a "subject to" clause before the consent of the Minister has been obtained have been ruled in court as invalid. If you are contemplating purchasing sub-divided land or land to be sub-divided, please come and see us to make sure it can be structured legally.
