The eThekwini Municipality is warning all unscrupulous landlords that if they continue to contravene health, safety and building bylaw regulations, the City will soon raid and close down their buildings.

This was the strong message given by iTrump Senior Manager Hoosen Moolla during a raid which led to the closing down of one of the City’s worst rundown buildings near Joseph Nduli (Russell Street) this week.

The building which has broken windows and old, rotting wooden floorboards and an unbearable stench was home to more than 500 people.

During the bad building operation Moolla was accompanied by officials from the City’s Water and Electricity Units as well as officers from the South African Police Service and Metro Police.

Moolla said the building had been a problem because of its severely dilapidated condition.

“To make matters worse, this bad building was also being used as an illegal accommodation establishment,” he said.

Moolla said the tenants who were cramped in small cubicles partitioned with thin wooden planks were paying rent ranging from R800 to R1200 monthly.

The building which had been served with contravention notices previously had no ventilation system or adequate ablution facilities. The building also posed a fire risk as it had no fire escape routes.

Moolla said the City’s closure list included over 120 buildings which fell under different contravention categories.

The eThekwini Municipality intends to tackle the issue of derelict buildings in the City through the recently gazetted Problem Building By-law.