Property tax

B

bar1

Expert Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2008
Messages
4,342
Reaction score
497
Hi!

I just got a R12000 bill for property tax, owned on my property.

I never received an invoice, or a bill or anything, not too sure why they remember me all of the sudden.

Of course i told them , that it's a very high amount and will be very hard for me to pay.

I always like to keep my bills up to date , and i asked if we can come to some sort of settlement that i pay off over a period of time and the lady said yes.

Did anyone went through the same procedure as me?
How much did you end up paying?

Thanks,
Bar1.
 
You have never paid property rates ??? :wtf:
I pay R1700 every month.
 
You knew what the rates on your property were, if you weren't being billed for it you should have queried.

You will have to pay the full amount + some interest, but you can pay if off over time iirc.
 
zamicro said:
If he has never received a bill, how would he have known?
Click to expand...

You own a property, therefore you are liable for Property Tax....

I was fully aware of what the rates on my property would be BEFORE I signed the OTP, and if I hadn't received a bill in the first 2 months, I would have gone to the municipality and queried it... precisely to avoid getting that bill in a years time with a big figure on it.

As an addition, if you are purchasing property and NOT asking what the rates are, you are daft.
 
ToxicBunny said:
You own a property, therefore you are liable for Property Tax....

I was fully aware of what the rates on my property would be BEFORE I signed the OTP, and if I hadn't received a bill in the first 2 months, I would have gone to the municipality and queried it... precisely to avoid getting that bill in a years time with a big figure on it.

As an addition, if you are purchasing property and NOT asking what the rates are, you are daft.
Click to expand...

I bought the property in 2005 and i believe this property tax came into effect in 2009.

+1 to zamicro, if i don't recieve a bill, how do they excpact me to pay?
but then again...this is south africa...
 
ToxicBunny said:
You own a property, therefore you are liable for Property Tax....

I was fully aware of what the rates on my property would be BEFORE I signed the OTP, and if I hadn't received a bill in the first 2 months, I would have gone to the municipality and queried it... precisely to avoid getting that bill in a years time with a big figure on it.

As an addition, if you are purchasing property and NOT asking what the rates are, you are daft.
Click to expand...

You make it sound as if City of Joburg would be competent, one can query with them all you want and try to have thing corrected but then they say will say you dont owe anything and still send the bill to the previous resident for many years and then one day... (I am taking a guess the OP is in CoJ)
 
bar1 said:
I bought the property in 2005 and i believe this property tax came into effect in 2009.

+1 to zamicro, if i don't recieve a bill, how do they excpact me to pay?
but then again...this is south africa...
Click to expand...

No, the property tax has ALWAYS been in place, its just the way they valued it that changed in 2009....
 
supersunbird said:
You make it sound as if City of Joburg would be competent, one can query with them all you want and try to have thing corrected but then they say will say you dont owe anything and still send the bill to the previous resident for many years and then one day... (I am taking a guess the OP is in CoJ)
Click to expand...

I'm aware that there may be that issue of them not sending the bill... I won't deny that, eThekwini did that to me for 4 months, but I queried after 2.. got told its all paid up, and I just kept putting they money for rates that I knew I had to pay aside so when the bill came I had it available instantly.

I sympathise with the OP for getting the massive bill, but I do NOT sympathise with him for not even being vaguely aware that one has to pay rates and what the monthly value should be, as this is all publicly available information. The Valuation roll is available on the CoJ's website, their rate randage is also freely available.
 
ToxicBunny said:
No, the property tax has ALWAYS been in place, its just the way they valued it that changed in 2009....
Click to expand...

Well didnt sectional titles change in the last few years. I believe at some point you paid the body corporate, and it was basically part of levies etc. Now you need to have your own municipal account and all, just for property tax, despite paying for elec,water,services via body corporate.

Believe me, even the municpality seemed confused (back in 2009) when i tried to open account where i dont pay for anything other than taxes.

So i can imagine that at some point getting that account sorted can slip by some people.
 
Last edited:
ToxicBunny,
Now i feel silly for not knowing...but how was i suppose to know?
If there is a bill to be paid i excpact to get it...not much to ask.
they clearly have my cellphone number...why does it take 3 years to call?
I did check all the fees BEFORE i purchased , if something was changed i was suppose to be notified.
 
Anyway, do you guys think they will accept a discounted amount if i pay upfront and immidiately?
and if so, how much i should offer?
I don't have the cash, but can borrow from my home loan.
 
CPA? Is this not the ABSA case that was won a few weeks ago? Can you be liable for money that you were never notified about?

Or is that only in the applicable on when they have a court order to lay claim on your assets?
 
bar1 said:
Anyway, do you guys think they will accept a discounted amount if i pay upfront and immidiately?
and if so, how much i should offer?
I don't have the cash, but can borrow from my home loan.
Click to expand...

You don't seem to understand this...

Its a tax, the best you can hope for is a payment plan... but you have to pay every last cent of it, plus some interest, and the tax going forward. They will not accept a discounted amount.
 
bar1 said:
ToxicBunny,
Now i feel silly for not knowing...but how was i suppose to know?
If there is a bill to be paid i excpact to get it...not much to ask.
they clearly have my cellphone number...why does it take 3 years to call?
I did check all the fees BEFORE i purchased , if something was changed i was suppose to be notified.
Click to expand...

Do you like in a Sectional Title or FreeHold Title?

Its something your estate agent should have told you about at the very least if it was FreeHold. If its a Sectional Title, then the Body Corporate should have been sending out communications etc etc...
 
diabolus said:
Well didnt sectional titles change in the last few years. I believe at some point you paid the body corporate, and it was basically part of levies etc. Now you need to have your own municipal account and all, just for property tax, despite paying for elec,water,services via body corporate.

Believe me, even the municpality seemed confused (back in 2009) when i tried to open account where i dont pay for anything other than taxes.

So i can imagine that at some point getting that account sorted can slip by some people.
Click to expand...

This is true actually it did. But if you lived in a Sectional Title the Body Corporate would have sent out notifications, you would have noticed your bill to the BC dropping by a fairly significant chunk from one month to the next... There would have been signs that something needed to be investigated.
 
diabolus said:
Well didnt sectional titles change in the last few years. I believe at some point you paid the body corporate, and it was basically part of levies etc. Now you need to have your own municipal account and all, just for property tax, despite paying for elec,water,services via body corporate.

Believe me, even the municpality seemed confused (back in 2009) when i tried to open account where i dont pay for anything other than taxes.

So i can imagine that at some point getting that account sorted can slip by some people.
Click to expand...

100% correct. So even though property tax was always in place as ToxicBunny said, sectional title owners, did not pay it directly. It was always via the levy. So I still understand why he never received or queried it. (Most likely missed the AGM etc)
 
zamicro said:
100% correct. So even though property tax was always in place as ToxicBunny said, sectional title owners, did not pay it directly. It was always via the levy. So I still understand why he never received or queried it. (Most likely missed the AGM etc)
Click to expand...

You telling me you wouldn't have queried why your bill to the BC dropped by at least a few hundred rand? or missed the letters the Body Corporate would have sent out? Or missed the news stories that were going on for months about this change?
 
ToxicBunny said:
You knew what the rates on your property were, if you weren't being billed for it you should have queried.

You will have to pay the full amount + some interest, but you can pay if off over time iirc.
Click to expand...

Aaarrrgghhh*&^%!!! Do you work for the municipality by any chance?? That's a classic, stubborn bureaucratic South African attitude.

The fact is many properties were NOT liable for municipal tax before 2009, rural properties especially. There was a valuation period that started way back when, and then a phasing in period where the first year had a 75% rebate, second year a 50% rebate and by the fourth year you are paying the full amount.

People were aware this was happening, but when you were going to start being billed and for how much was the question.

The way they handled this was atrocious. I expected some sort of communication, maybe a 'welcome / this is how we will be spending your money etc.' letter/pamphlet as you do in the UK, but first communication I received from them was simply a very cryptic overdue bill – just a figure, no calculations, no explanation. The billing was so messed up the first bills never went out.

So, if you’ve been living in your home for 30 years, suddenly you find you’re customer with an overdue account.
 
ToxicBunny said:
You don't seem to understand this...

Its a tax, the best you can hope for is a payment plan... but you have to pay every last cent of it, plus some interest, and the tax going forward. They will not accept a discounted amount.
Click to expand...

The reason I ask is because i know from another thread here, that people who owes a lot of money for their tv license came to some sort of an agreement with a discounted amount
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X