The metro recently said non-paying tenants are among the reasons for the poor condition of its buildings in the CBD.
Rekord recently heard how elderly disabled couple Beverly and Christo Wild lived in the Blesbok flats in Arcadia.
The Wilds recently celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary and have been living in Blesbok since 2008.
Beverly is visually impaired and lives with Crouzon syndrome. She and her guide dog Gaby have to climb up and down seven flights of stairs without or with very loose every day because the lifts in the building have not been operational.
Her husband Christo, a Ford Motor Company employee for over 50 years has cerebral palsy and epilepsy. The couple say the building is not suitable for persons living with disabilities or even able-bodied people.
In addition, it also has cracked tiles, water leaks, unrepaired fire damage and broken windows while security is nonexistent.
The metro it is responsible for the administration and management of the flats.
The 14-storey building has 70 units and the lifts in the 1971 built block have not been operational since December 2016.
“The tenants refuse to pay rent and there is a 10% rental collection rate. Due to the low levels of rental collection, the city is now unable to undertake any major repairs and maintenance and only emergency maintenance is attended to,” said metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo.
Mashigo said the building suffers high levels of vandalism which led to the lifts not working and insurance refusing to pay for the replacement.
He said it is also overcrowded with illegal tenants due to a lack of security because the city is no longer able to pay for guards and social ills such as substance abuse and domestic violence are rife.
“In the year 2009/10, major maintenance was undertaken but this did not include the plumbing due to funding constraints,” he said.
Mashigo said disabled tenants are allocated units on the ground floor for ease of access even when lifts not operational.
He said the Wilds can be transferred to a unit for the elderly but they previously declined the offer due to the rule that a tenant there cannot sublet or live with relatives.
He said Tshwane had begun a transfer of the property to subsidiary, Housing Company Tshwane (HCT).
“HCT is an accredited social housing institution (SHI) mandated to develop and manage housing city-wide. SHIs can access funding from the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) and other sources to upgrade and maintain social housing projects.
HCT is assisting with caretakers and cleaning, in the interim, whilst the transfer is being finalised. Due to the low rental payments and the city’s financial challenges, only emergency maintenance has been undertaken with those tenants who pay rentals being prioritised,” Mashigo said.
Tshwane is finalising the “bad buildings guidelines” to allow it to process and expropriate derelict buildings that do not meet the occupational health and safety standards with the aim of partnering with the private sector, amongst others, to upgrade and reuse the buildings to ensure a sustainable and better building infrastructure and revitalise the inner city.
Mashigo said guards/caretakers will be employed for Blesbok.
“HCT is assisting by providing caretakers/security in the interim. Once the transfer of the stock to HCT is completed they will undertake building assessments and source funding for upgrades. The city is expediting the transfer to assist in the process of ensuring a more sustainable property management function, which includes invoking relevant clauses of the signed lease agreements when there is a breach, such as vandalism to property,” he said.
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