City probing 291 ‘problem building’ cases in Cape Town

The City of Cape Town says its problem building unit has 291 active cases under various stages of investigation along with legal proceedings against 55 property owners.

The specialised law enforcement unit, comprising 13 members, closed 425 cases during the past financial year, from July 2023 to June 2024, compared to 207 the previous year.

“The phenomena of problem buildings are on the rise across the country, and indeed the world, as owners face hardships or simply abandon their properties due to the dysfunctional provisions in the PIE Act that make it impossible for private or public land owners to effectively protect their property,” said safety and security MMC JP Smith.

“However, this creates a problem for the city as these properties become a home for squatters and criminals and are generally left to decay, abysmally impacting the residents around it. These buildings can become dangerous as they are used as dump sites and are health and fire hazards. Then there is the environmental impact and the associated costs to contend with.”

The city said on Sunday that 27 new problem buildings had been declared by the city which had 291 active cases in various stages of investigation, and had initiated legal proceedings against 55 property owners. 

Smith said the unit enforced the Problem Property Bylaw 2020 and would generally issue a compliance notice to a building owner. If the owner was unresponsive the property would be declared a problem building.

Further action included instituting a tariff, charged to the owner's municipal account, or legal action to compel the owner to act.

“I encourage residents to report potential problem buildings to Law Enforcement, the sooner it gets reported, the sooner our staff can act to limit the impact on the neighbourhood,” said Smith.

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