City loses tariff fight

COURT RULING: NON-SECTIONAL TITLE REFUSE CHARGE IS UNLAWFUL

- Roy Cokayne

The High Court in Johannesburg has found that the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) acted unlawfully in imposing a non-sectional title refuse charge tariff on certain residential accommodation buildings that were already paying a refuse charge tariff.

A judgment handed down by Judge Mandlenkosi Motha on 21 July declared the classification of "non-sectional title properties", in CoJ's tariff of charges for solid waste services for the years 2018 to 2022, unlawful and inconsistent with existing regulations.

There were 42 applicants in total, 41 of which were companies owning a collective 7 333 multi-unit residential accommodation units in the city. These included Indluplace Properties, the Johannesburg Housing Company and Sirius Property Investments.

The remaining applicant was the Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association, a non-profit organisation established to represent the interests of property owners and managers in the city.