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Bulawayo City Council said yesterday that it will auction about 500 derelict properties whose owners have, for the past five years, failed to pay rates.
The local authority’s legal officer, Spekiwa Guta, said according to provisions of the council by-laws, council can repossess and auction any property whose owner fails to pay rates (derelict) for a period of five years or more.
Guta revealed this during a 2015 budget consultative meeting with residents and the business community at the Small City Hall.
She said the council had identified about 1,000 such properties, some of them owned by prominent businesspeople and senior politicians, which have been abandoned or deserted.
Some of the properties are occupied by people but the owners are not paying anything to council.
“We’ve identified 1,000 derelict properties. These are properties whose owners have not paid rates for more than five years,” said Guta, who is also the acting Chamber Secretary.
She said council approached owners of the identified properties but only 494 responded.
Guta said council was taking legal steps to repossess and auction all the properties of the owners who did not respond.
In May this year the municipality issued a notice giving the concerned property owners 60 days to make necessary payments or risk losing their properties.
Online Reporter