By Liad Hadar – Director
This article first appeared in Asset Magazine’s September 2026 edition

It is 10:00 on a Tuesday morning.

Your tenants are working, the lifts are running and business is carrying on as usual.

Then the electricity goes off.

Not because of loadshedding. Not because of a technical fault.

The municipality has disconnected your building.

For any property owner or landlord few events can cause greater immediate disruption or stress. Within minutes, lifts stop operating, security systems may be compromised, tenants cannot trade and phones start ringing.

The question we are often asked is a simple one:

Can the municipality really just switch you off?

In our experience, the equally simple answer is: most likely not!

Incredibly, this is my fourth article regarding the relationship between property owner and the municipality. The first of my articles dealing with a similar topic was in 2022: How to Resolve Incorrect Municipal Bills (Asset February 2022), Unravelling the Chaos – a Case Study on the City of Johannesburg’s Billing System Woes (Asset February 2024) and The Continued Unchecked Power of Municipalities (Asset February 2025).

Whilst more than four years have passed since my first article, the same or similar issues remain.

A Powerful Tool, But Not an Unlimited One

Municipalities are entitled to collect amounts lawfully owing to them and the disconnection of services can legitimately form part of their credit-control and debt-collection mechanisms.

That power is not absolute.

Our courts have repeatedly recognised that the termination of essential municipal services must be exercised lawfully and in a procedurally fair manner. In the landmark Joseph v City of Johannesburg judgment, the Constitutional Court confirmed that those materially affected by a termination of electricity are entitled to procedural fairness, including appropriate pre-termination notice.

In other words, a municipality cannot necessarily arrive at your property and simply disconnect supply because its system reflects an outstanding amount.

The correct process truly matters.

What Happens When the Bill Is Wrong?

This is where things become particularly relevant for property owners.

Municipal accounts are not always correct. We regularly encounter disputes involving estimated readings, incorrect tariffs, unexplained historical charges, duplicated amounts and billing adjustments running into significant sums.

Imagine receiving a municipal account reflecting R26 million in arrears when you genuinely believe that the current charges of R1 million of that amount has been incorrectly billed.

Do you simply refuse to pay anything? Generally, that would be a dangerous strategy.

Neither should a property owner simply ignore an incorrect account and wait for the municipality to disconnect.

Section 102(2) of the Municipal Systems Act becomes particularly important. Where there is a genuine dispute concerning a specific amount claimed by a municipality, the municipality’s ordinary debt-collection powers may be restricted while that dispute remains unresolved.

The courts have emphasised, however, that merely stating that you dispute your account is not necessarily enough. The dispute should be properly formulated and relate to identifiable amounts.

That distinction can be the difference between a manageable billing dispute and an urgent court application.

A Recent Warning From Johannesburg

Perhaps the very recent Johannesburg High Court case of Goldenrod Group (Pty) Limited v Executive Mayor of City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and Others (in which judgment was handed down on 6 August 2026) demonstrates just how serious the consequences of a disconnection can become.

In this case, the owner of Marble Towers, a multi-storey commercial building in the Johannesburg CBD, approached the court after its electricity and water were disconnected while a billing dispute remained unresolved and despite an existing court order regulating the position.

The Court immediately recognised the commercial reality and harm to the property owner.

Without electricity, lifts could not operate.

Safety and security systems were compromised.

Tenants were unable to conduct business.

Without water, sanitation became a problem.

The property owner was forced to rely on diesel generators at what it described as an unsustainable cost.

Perhaps most importantly, tenants were considering leaving the building altogether.

The Court ordered the restoration of electricity and water within 24 hours and stressed that even alleged arrears did not entitle the municipality to disregard lawful procedure or an existing court order.

To show its displeasure with the municipality and its executives, the Court awarded a punitive costs order against all respondents, which included the Executive Mayor (Sello Enoch Dada Morero) and the City Manager (Dr Floyd Brink) in their personal capacities.

For landlords, the lesson extends far beyond one building in Johannesburg.

Don’t Wait for the Lights to Go Out

To repeat the lessons from previous articles, proactive property management is critical.

If you believe your municipal account is incorrect, deal with it immediately. Understand exactly what is being disputed. Lodge the appropriate query or formal dispute. Keep proof of every submission. Maintain a proper chronology of correspondence and reference numbers. Continue dealing responsibly with amounts that are legitimately due.

And most importantly, if you actually do receive a pre-termination notice, do not ignore it.

Once a disconnection team is standing outside your building, your options become significantly more expensive and considerably more urgent.

We have seen property owners spend months trying to resolve municipal billing disputes informally, only to seek legal assistance when the electricity is about to be disconnected or once it has been done.

By then, the legal strategy has changed from preventing a crisis to managing one.

When Urgent Action Is Necessary

Where a municipality threatens disconnection despite a properly lodged and unresolved dispute, or disconnects services without following the required process, urgent court proceedings are certainly available.

Depending on the circumstances, a property owner will most likely be entitled to seek an interdict preventing disconnection or an order compelling the municipality to restore services.

Recent cases continue to demonstrate that courts will intervene where municipalities fail to follow their own policies and lawful pre-termination procedures.

As always litigation should ideally be the last step, not the first.

The Real Cost of Being Switched Off

For most property owners who are landlords, electricity and water are not simply municipal services.

They are part of the infrastructure that produces rental income.

A disconnected building can mean unhappy tenants, lost turnover, damaged relationships, generator costs and, ultimately, vacancies.

So, can the municipality switch you off?

Yes, in appropriate circumstances but it must play by the rules.

The smartest property owners don’t wait in the dark (mind the pun!) to find out whether those rules have been followed.

They make sure their position is clearly protected long before anyone reaches for the switch.