SCA confirms Tshwane property rates ruling
The SCA has handed down a judgment that could wreak havoc with the City of Tshwane’s already vulnerable finances, says a Moneyweb report. The SCA dismissed an appeal by the city and essentially upheld an earlier High Court ruling that set aside the city’s 2012 supplementary valuation roll and 2013 general valuation roll in respect of properties in the former Kungwini municipal area, which the City of Tshwane re-categorised from residential to vacant land.
The re-categorisation resulted in a 4.5 times increase in the property rates tariff. The High Court ruled in favour of the applicants in June 2017 on the basis that the city did not follow the provisions of the Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Act when it changed the categorisation of the affected properties.
The city fell foul of the Act through its failure to properly notify the property owners of the change in category.
The Moneyweb report says this judgment was essentially upheld by the SCA last week. The SCA ruled that the affected owners were obliged to pay property rates for the period at the rate that would have applied to the properties if the categorisation remained unchanged.
This would be the case until the city lawfully changes the category, the SCA ruled.
City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality v Lombardy Development (Pty) Ltd & others
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