About MDS. A legacy built on Section 118.
Municipal Debt Specialist is a South African consultancy focused on auditing and lawfully reducing high municipal clearance figures associated with property transfers.
Our specialist history began with New Ventures Consulting & Services under the direction of Livanos. The 2017 Jordaan Constitutional Court judgment emerged from years of litigation involving our firm, our clients and related proceedings — not from a case we simply observed.
Our client. Our litigation heritage. Chantelle Jordaan, a client assisted by New Ventures, was selected as the public face of our wider legal challenge. The consolidated case also formally named New Ventures Consulting & Services and Livanos.
Not simply clearance figures. The complete legal position.
High clearance figures can put property sales, registrations and financing arrangements under pressure. Our role is to interrogate the municipal account and the law, identify opportunities for lawful reductions and work towards a properly documented resolution.
Our experience includes matters in which the debt is genuinely owed. An amount need not be the subject of a formal billing dispute for a careful legal and technical review to reveal a possible route to a lawful reduction or settlement.
Account-level scrutiny
We examine the municipal figures, the relevant history and applicable legal considerations.
Court-informed thinking
Decades of direct engagement and significant Section 118 litigation inform our approach.
Documented outcomes
We aim for a lawful, properly authorised settlement rather than informal shortcuts.
Transfer-aware process
We work alongside the appointed conveyancer and keep the transaction's practical timing in view.
A legal legacy tested in South Africa's highest court.
Our 2017 Jordaan Constitutional Court judgment was the culmination of years of legal challenges pursued through New Ventures Consulting & Services and related matters. Those proceedings dealt with historical municipal debt and the proper interpretation of Section 118 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act.
Importantly, Chantelle Jordaan was one of our clients and was selected as the public face of our wider litigation. Her name became the recognised shorthand for a series of closely related legal proceedings involving our clients, New Ventures Consulting & Services and Livanos.
In plain English: A new property owner does not become liable for a previous owner's municipal debts merely because ownership changes hands. The Section 118(3) charge does not survive transfer.
Constitutional Court Judgment Our Jordaan Matter [2017] ZACC 31 29 August 2017 · Unanimous judgmentThe Court held that the statutory charge under Section 118(3) does not transfer liability for the previous owner's debts to the new owner. The underlying lawful debt owed by the original debtor is not automatically written off.
A history built matter by matter.
Our authority on Section 118 developed through real client matters, our own sustained litigation and the landmark Jordaan judgment in proceedings involving New Ventures Consulting & Services and Livanos.
Specialist beginnings
New Ventures Consulting & Services began its work addressing municipal debt and Section 118 matters.
Experience through practice
Account reviews, municipal engagement and litigation informed increasingly specialised methodologies.
Our Jordaan matter
The Constitutional Court delivered its unanimous ruling in the consolidated proceedings naming Jordaan, New Ventures and Livanos.
Expertise in action
MDS applies its experience to high clearance figures and accepted property-transfer matters, primarily in Ekurhuleni.
Meet the leadership behind the MDS legacy.
Peter Livanos Director · Section 118 specialistPeter Livanos played a central role in developing MDS's specialist municipal debt approach and, through New Ventures Consulting & Services, in leading and funding the wider litigation. Our client Chantelle Jordaan was selected to be the public face of that litigation, which culminated in the landmark 2017 Constitutional Court judgment.
That experience matters because MDS does not rely solely on an academic reading of the legislation. Its specialist perspective grew from real municipal account disputes, practical property transactions and court proceedings.
Section 118 is not a discount.
One of the most damaging misconceptions surrounding property transfers is that paying only the amount required for a clearance certificate automatically wipes out the rest of the municipal debt.
“Pay the last two years.
The rest disappears.”
A Section 118(1) clearance certificate is not proof that every older debt has been reduced, written off or finally settled.
Full debt exposure needs its own assessment.
The statutory clearance requirement and the complete outstanding municipal account are different questions. MDS evaluates the overall position and pursues lawful settlement opportunities where available.
Unresolved older debt can leave the correct debtor exposed to lawful recovery action and may complicate the transaction or financing arrangements. Our approach is designed to address the full position rather than rely on a misunderstood shortcut.
What is the difference between Section 118(1) and Section 118(3)?
Section 118(1) sets the municipal payment condition associated with obtaining the certificate needed for registration of transfer, generally concerning charges that became due during the preceding two years. Section 118(3) concerns a statutory charge and preference relating to amounts due to the municipality. The 2017 Jordaan judgment confirmed that the Section 118(3) charge does not make a new owner liable for debts arising before transfer. The distinction does not amount to an automatic debt discount for the seller.
Our Jordaan case made national headlines.
When our litigation reached its landmark Constitutional Court conclusion in 2017, television broadcasters, radio stations, newspapers and digital publications carried the story across South Africa. The surviving original coverage tells a far more compelling story than any promotional claim could.
Watch the interviews, listen to the broadcasts and read the reporting that brought the New Ventures, Jordaan and Livanos litigation into the national spotlight.
One specialist discipline. A property industry that depends on it.
High clearance figures do not affect only sellers. They can place conveyancers, estate agents, purchasers and lenders under pressure. We work with the relevant professionals so municipal clearance issues are considered in the context of the transaction as a whole.
Property professionals
- Conveyancing attorneys and secretaries
- Estate agents and property practitioners
- Developers and property investors
- Banking and bridging-finance professionals
Property stakeholders
- Property sellers and purchasers
- Executors and deceased estates
- Owners dealing with high clearance figures
- Parties to sales in execution
Specialist transactions
- Liquidations and sequestrations
- Trustees and insolvency practitioners
- Residential, commercial and industrial matters
- Agricultural and complex transfer matters
Precisely focused on municipal debt and property transfers.
We do not operate as a general-purpose municipal billing complaints desk. Our work concentrates on substantial property-transfer clearance matters and related debt-resolution issues.
Clearance figures auditing, reduction & settlement
Assessing high municipal clearance figures, identifying legally supportable reductions and working towards agreed amounts needed for property transfer.
Learn about the assessmentInsolvency-related municipal debt resolution
Specialist assessment of municipal debt issues arising in liquidations and sequestrations, including the interaction of Section 118(2) and section 89 of the Insolvency Act where applicable.
Discuss a specialist matterHistorical and preferential debt settlement
Reviewing older outstanding amounts and the statutory position, with a view to addressing the full legally recoverable exposure rather than treating a clearance certificate as a write-off.
Understand the distinctionBridging finance introductions
Where suitable, we introduce conveyancers and clients to carefully selected bridging-finance providers, helping to align funding discussions with a properly assessed municipal debt position. MDS is not the lender.
Explore bridging finance supportNo shortcuts. No hidden mechanisms. The correct legal result.
Our mission is to secure accurate, lawful and defensible municipal debt outcomes for accepted property-transfer matters, using the experience MDS has developed over more than two decades.
High clearance figures holding up a property transfer?
Send us the municipal clearance figures for an initial expert assessment. Our current intake prioritises City of Ekurhuleni property-transfer matters; other municipalities may be considered individually.
Free initial assessment · No obligation · No upfront professional fees on accepted contingency matters · Not every matter qualifies