City-wide cleaning fee: what landlords & tenants need to know

From 1 July 2025, the City of Cape Town has introduced a City-Wide Cleaning Sundry Tariff. This new fee will appear on municipal accounts for all residential properties, including sectional title units and vacant land.

While the City frames it as a cleaning initiative, the practical focus includes addressing litter in public areas and the safe relocation of vagrants and informal settlements, an issue that many of us are concerned about for both safety and property value reasons.

Although this is billed by the municipality, it is not a utility charge linked to water, electricity, or refuse removal. Instead, it is calculated based on the municipal valuation of the property, much like rates.

Who pays?
Under our standard lease (Clause 11.6), if "levies, rates and/or taxes in respect of the Premises increase at any time during the subsistence of this Lease Agreement, the Landlord shall be entitled to increase the Rental to accommodate such increase." This means the cleaning tariff will be recovered as part of rental, not as a separate utility item.

In terms of the Unfair Practice Regulations to the Rental Housing Act, Regulation 5(c) requires at least 60 calendar days' notice of such a rental increase.

Action for Landlords
If you would like us to apply this increase to your tenants, we require your written instruction so we can issue notices in time. Seeff must receive confirmation in writing to enable us to give the required two calendar months' notice.

Notices issued before the end of August 2025 will allow the increase to take effect from 1 November 2025.

Landlords managing their own leases must email us a copy of the municipal rates account showing the new levy.

Action for Tenants
We will notify tenants as soon as possible where applicable. Tenants should budget for the adjustment from the effective date stated in the notice.

Legal context
AfriForum has publicly challenged the City, stating:

"Cleaning public areas like streets and parks is a general public service, not something that can be charged as if it's a service delivered directly to individual properties... This should be covered by property rates and not added as a separate tariff."

While the matter is under review, our lease agreements already cater for such charges meaning landlords are entitled to pass this cost on through a proportionate rent increase.

If the fee is overturned
Should a court or tribunal later rule the charge unlawful and the municipality issues credits to property owners, landlords will be required to pass this credit on to tenants' accounts.

We will continue to monitor developments closely and update you as new information becomes available. Please feel free to reach out to me should you need any advice or additional assistance. I am always available to my landlords and Tenants and will assist in ensuring the increases are processed seamlessly through our formal processes.

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