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The court held that the intention of the legislature was clear from
Section 118 of the Municipal Systems Act that municipalities were only
entitled to recover municipal debts due two years prior to the date
of application for the clearance certificate, and that the municipality
was not entitled to recover future municipal debts for periods which
extended beyond this date, irrespective of whether the municipality had
a policy in place which determined otherwise. The court accordingly
found in favour of Amber Mountain Investments.
So, if your municipality is asking you to pay rates estimated until after
the date of application for the rates clearance certificate, you should
ask your attorney to assist you to bring the outcome of this case to the
municipality’s attention.

A strange thing called servitude

May 2017

“I applied to my municipality to have the building plans for the
extension of my garage approved. The municipality rejected
my proposed extension on the grounds that it would be
constructed over a servitude registered against my title deed
in favour of the municipality. What is a servitude? Can I have
it removed?”

A “servitude” is a limited real right registered in the Deeds Office against Property
the title deed of the property of a person in favour of another person
or entity. The holder of the servitude (right) will therefore be entitled to
exercise some right on the property of another or prohibit the owner of
the property from exercising some of his ownership rights.
A distinction can be made between personal servitudes and praedial
servitudes of which the most important difference is that a personal
servitude is a right attached to a specific person to use and enjoy
another’s property and cannot exist longer than the lifetime of the
person in whose favour it was registered. The most commonly known
personal servitudes are a usufruct, right to use, or the right to occupy
the property.
A praedial servitude on the other hand is a right that attaches to the
property itself (and not to a person) and even though a change in
ownership may take place this servitude will continue to exist and
can only be cancelled by agreement between the parties. The most
commonly known praedial servitudes are a right of way, pipeline
servitude, electrical substation servitude, and so forth.

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