OPEN AND CLOSING OF WATER AND ELECTRICITY ACCOUNTS

When purchasing a property it is necessary for the buyers to attend to the opening of new utility accounts at the municipality, These accounts are not opened automatically and do require personal visits to the

offices, which WLE CONSULTINGS does for you. There are two different kinds of account openings- full title (free standing house and clusters homes) and sectional title (townhouse and apartments). The difference in the two is that Full title accounts includes rates, refuse, sewer, water and electricity whereas sectional title account only has rates and refuse- as water, electricity and sewer are billed through the complex’s Body

Corporate. It is also possible to have a full title property where water or electricity is billed through the complex.

1) Municipality accounts can only be opened after the transfer has registered into the new owners’ name. It is best to open the accounts as quickly as possible to avoid any unnecessary interruption of supply.

2) The accounts are opened from the date of transfer only- NOT date of occupation- if you occupied the property prior to transfer you will need to reimburse the seller for any consumption up until date of transfer. To calculate the split charges between the two accounts.

2.1) OCCUPATIONAL RENT SPLIT CHARGES:

If the purchaser took occupation prior to registration, then the seller should bill the purchaser directly for all consumption up until date of registration only; thereafter the Council will adjust the bills accordingly. Please remember to take readings on date of registration; these will only be used should a query arise as the Council has their own way of calculating the split charges. The Council regards occupation rent as a private agreement and they do not concern themselves with the split charges between buyers and sellers. They only concern themselves with the charges prior to transfer for the seller and charges after transfer for the buyer. To calculate what amounts should be billed to purchaser prior to registration, take the entire bill for the water and/ or electricity, including the service charges and Vat, and divide the amount by the number of days stated on the bill and pro rata the amount. Please remember that consumption is billed in arrears and on odd days (18th- 15th of a month) so there may be an additional bill after registration for consumption. Rates, sewer and refuse are not normally billed to the purchaser during the occupational lease period (but this may vary depending on the contract you signed). The seller is also liable for the rates, sewer and refuse for the month that the property was registered.

3) Please do not make any payments into any account that is not in your name. Reimbursing of charges during occupational rent should be paid to the seller and please be sure to keep all proof of payments just in case. Please note that accounts can and will only be opened in the names of the registered owners of the property.

4) It is advisable to record all meter readings on date of occupation and date of transfer and generally best to do it photographically with a camera that is able to include a date stamp. These readings are only ever used if there is a discrepancy with the billing on the account. The start readings on the account are never exact but are normally fairly accurate.

WATER AND ELECTRICITY:

Accounts can be opened once the transfer has taken place and once the ownership details have been updated between the deeds office and the Municipality. Once the ownership details have been updated on the Municipality's system and reflects the new owner we are then able to proceed and open a new rates account for the property for which we receive a new account number. The water and electricity are then added to the new rates accounts.

The water and electricity services do require a consumption deposit to be paid into the account. This deposit is held in security on the account until the account is closed at which time it is then refunded. Deposits must be paid directly into the newly created Municipality account via a direct deposit at the Municipality cashers. Please note the Municipality no longer accepts any form of cheque payments. All accounts that are opened are opened from a nil balance which means that purchasers cannot inherit any debit balances from a seller.

Buyer’s accounts are opened with the exact same information as the seller’s accounts. If there were any errors with the seller’s account these same errors will be passed onto your account, (incorrect meters linked or incorrect information). It is the responsibility of the account holder to ensure that all the details are correct and if any are not correct to please notify us so that it can be fixed. We do not receive copies of the account after they have been created and billed. The correction of existing errors will be billed as separate queries. Water and electricity accounts are generally billed within a month or two. If you do not receive an invoice, please notify WLE CONSULTINGS so that we can investigate as we will be unaware unless we are notified.

Opening or Closing Water and Electricity

For us to open or close an account we will need the following documents

For the Seller:

* Proxy letter

* Copy of ID

* Trust: Letter of authority as in terms of section 6(1) of the trust property control act, 1988 (Act 57 of 1988)

* Cipro Documents (if it is a business)

For the Buyer:

* Proxy Letter

* Copy of ID

* Trust: Letter of authority as in terms of section 6(1) of the trust property control act, 1988 (Act 57 of 1988)

* Cipro Documents (if it is a business)

* Deposit (deposit must be paid at the same time the account is opened)

This is the deposit for the water and electricity for July 2020 - July 2021