The City of Tshwane and the Ekurhuleni municipality have approached the Constitutional Court to appeal against a judgment that municipalities may not hold a property owner liable for a previous owner’s historical municipal debts. The judgment of the High Court in Pretoria gave relief to home and business owners who had been saddled with years of historical municipal debt, and who have been refused municipal services until the debt had been settled. However, the municipalities said the new owners were aware of the historic debt when they bought the property and had reconciled themselves to the risks involved. The two municipalities filed notices of appeal at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday. Before the judgment, sellers were not allowed to transfer properties unless they had municipal clearance certificates for the last two years of bills. However, older debts — those that arose before the two-year cut-off — became the liability of the new owner. Failure to pay entitled a municipa...
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