Having sold two properties and seen the transfers already go through, I can only express my frustration at the incompetence of the Johannesburg Municipality.

Firstly, before a transfer can go through, they give you a figure that you have to pay, which is a most unfair situation, because they just thumb-suck a figure and you are forced to pay whatever it is otherwise your transfer will not go through. Later, you cannot get your money back and for example, with respect to the one property which transfer took place in September/October 2010, they continue to run down my deposit, charging me the new owner’s electricity, etc. It is unbelievable that this could be possible 9 months later, and that they cannot by now have charged him, reversed the fees and given me a credit on what was a R60 000,00 deposit that they made me pay.
On another property they insisted that I pay for an application that the owner before me had brought to subdivide the property, but which they had forgotten to charge him for! Again, I guess it gets down to no competition and a legal system that totally favours the Municipality and allows them to dictate how much, and then take their time in getting around to refunding one – but after 9 months I am beginning to wonder if taking their time is just that, or if indeed I will never, ever be paid.