|
CALL FOR MINISTER TO SORT OUT JOBURG MESS
Billions of rands tied up in property sales crisis
Property transactions worth billions of rands are being held up
by the City of Joburg, which is taking months to issue clearance
certificates to owners and developers.
This is grinding the property industry to a halt, says the Johannesburg
Attorneys Assiciation (JAA), and it hasn't excluded the possibility
of taking legal action against the council.
It is estimated there are 40 000 property sales being held up, involving
R5billion.
The council has not responded to a request for comment.
According to property developers, the problem started a few months
ago when the council moved to a new IT system, called SAP.
Since then, individuals and devleopers have been waiting for up
to seven months to get clearance certificates.
Anton Theron, acting chairmand of the JAA's property committee,
said the association had been inundated with reports from its members
regarding their problems.
"The JAA have been in discussion with officials in the rates
department for many months but nothing gets resolved.
"Our members are being reported to the Law Society by their
clients for lack of performance because they cannot obtain rates
clearances adn are therefore unable to lodge transaction for registration.
"Our members, unfortunately, do not have any control over the
processes within the council adn cannot perform their duties without
the relevant clearances," he said.
The association also could not get information from the council.
Recently it asked its members to submit their complaints. "We
realised the problem is serious. We got 400 complaints, " said
Theron
The Star spoke to several developers and attorneys, none of whom
wanted to be named.
One attorney said that if her name was mentioned the council would
boycott all her applications.
The problem was "bigger than we can even imagine".
"We were advised that staff are only going to start training
on the new system shortly. I think it is going to take a very long
time to get the system running smoothly.
"Unless the council works 24 hours a day, I do not htink we
are going to see a vast improvement in a hurry.
"Our clients are extremely angry and blame us. In many cases,
people are being forced to sell their homes because of financial
difficulties. They cannot afford to carry the costs."
The problem was "too huge" to be resolved at local government
level, but should be escalated to the minister of local government
as this was a political matter.
Jonny Novick, managing director of Vered Estates, said the processing
issue had already had a negative short term effect on the Gauteng
property market and needed to be addressed immediately.
"Some of our clients who sold their homes last year are still
awaiting clearance figures so that they can obtain a rates clearance
certificate."
|
