Electronic applications are now 80% of all the applications coming into the eThekwini Municipality, this time last year these stood at 50% – a great improvement says Saras Kannie and Devan Shukla of the eThekwini Municipality Revenue Clearance Department.
The department is hoping to start the bi-annual feedback sessions again, with the first to be announced in the next 2 months, they say these are a great help to both the attorneys and the department as problems can be identified and addressed.
When electronic applications are being made the department has requested that the conveyancing paralegal should ensure that they fill in all the fields – as this speeds up the process, otherwise the application is either sent back, or the department tries to find the information – both slowing the process down. This is especially the case with sectional title schemes, as often the details are missing or incorrect, the scheme name, scheme number and year must all be completed. Also it is important to check the details against the VA3 system – http://ethekwini.evaluations.co.za/
Should anybody require training on the usage of the electronic rates application system, they are requested to contact the local L@W office and speak to their account manager.
The department took a while to adapt to the extra work load for the handling of the sectional title property applications, but currently due to property transactions being on the slow side, volumes being served are between 2700 and 3000 per month.
Saras and Devan mentioned that they are working on two turnaround targets:
1. 5 day turnaround from receiving a successful application (all correct data must be captured)
2. 48 hour turnaround to all free format messages.
Currently they insist that all staff reply to their free format messages before starting the normal day routines. They did ask that these free format messages must not be abused as that will just cause the process to fail.
The latest increases, effect from the 1st July 2011 are as follows:
| Electronic Applications: | Now | Before |
| Properties below and equal to R 120 000 |
R 75.87 | R 68.97 |
| Properties above R 120 000 | R 121.39 | R 110.35 |
| Manual Applications: | ||
| Properties below and equal to R 120 000 | R 151.73 | R 136.80 |
| Properties above R 120 000 | R 227.61 | R 206.91 |
Above prices included VAT.
As you can see from the pricing, they are trying to incentivise conveyancing firms to change to the electronic application – which really makes sense as it eliminates errors and assists in improving the turnaround times.
Compiled by:
Malcolm Pearson
and based on:
the notes taken from meeting between Malcolm, Saras, Devan and Louis Kruger.
