Asked by the Customer on 01-08-2020 05:43:21
Question posted in the Property Law category relating to Free State
Hi,
We are a school that rents out houses to tenants. Our water supply comes from a company that owns a estate next to the school. Water comes through their property to us. They bill us and tenants. Some tenants are behind on water accounts. We received a letter from their lawyer stating we must come up with a payment plan, or they are going to stop all services. That is water and sewerage services. How legal is that? We do want to reach an agreement, but they have a history of doing what they want.
Message from the Attorney
Posted by Att. Patrick on 14-08-2020 19:50:24
Hi there,
I see that you haven't made a payment for the question, but I'm going to assist you a little. If you want to ask a follow-up question, please make the required payment.
It really does depend on whether the company who supplies the water invoices (i) you and then you invoice your tenants; or (ii) invoices you separately from the tenants.
If (i), then I would say that the company is well within its rights.
If (ii), then I would say that the company can't cut your services because the tenants are in arrears.
Att. Patrick
Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow-up questions please make the required payment, then use the REPLY button and ask your further question. I would like to continue assisting you, but I need to concentrate on people who make payments for their questions.
If you would like to view the entire answer, you will need to either login or register a FREE account.
Disclaimer
DISCLAIMER: Advice or answers from Lawyers on South African Legal Advice are not substitutes for the proper advice of an Lawyer. South African Legal Advice is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Lawyer who assists with your question is not your Lawyer, and the response above is not to be considered to be legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains. The responses above are from individual Lawyers, not South African Legal Advice. The site and services are provided “as is”. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service.