Month: August 2017
New property owners not liable for old debt, court rules
Municipalities cannot hold a new property owner liable for a previous owner’s historical municipal debt, the Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday.
The precedent-setting ruling gives relief to home and business owners, who have been saddled with years of historical municipal debt – as long as 20 years – and have been denied municipal services until the debt had been paid. The outstanding debt relates to water, electricity, rates and taxes associated to a property.
In a ruling majority written by Justice Edwin Cameron, the court found that upon transfer of a property, a new owner is not liable for old municipal debt. The court upheld a ruling by the high court in Pretoria in November last year – mainly that the liability of the old municipal debt rests with the previous owner.
https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/new-property-owners-not-liable-for-old-debt-court-rules/
Constitutional case launched against SA banks
Over 225 applicants, primarily from Gauteng’s poorer townships, have instituted a R60 billion claim for damages against some of South Africa’s biggest banks.
GroundUp reports that the case revolves around a number of unlawful repossessions by the banks over the past 23 years, with the R60 billion figure based on the average estimated loss of home equity value, multiplied by the roughly 100,000 homes repossessed since 1994.
Nedbank, Absa, FirstRand Bank and Standard Bank are cited as respondents in the case, as well as the National Credit Regulator, the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development, the SA Human Rights Commission and the High Court Rules Board.
https://businesstech.co.za/news/banking/192768/massive-r60-billion-constitutional-case-launched-against-sa-banks/