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It’s a dog-eat-dog world when the lights go out.

South African thieves are loving stages five and six, that’s for sure. Statistics show that the number of burglary incidents increases when we go through extended periods of load shedding.

We know that this issue isn’t going to disappear for years to come and there’s been an uptick in tenants requesting that generators or inverters and water tanks be installed in rental properties, at the landlord’s cost.

IOL reports that landlords are now questioning whether or not they are legally obliged to provide uninterrupted utility supply if a tenant requests they do so. The other issue centres around who is liable for these costs:

The first thing that tenants need to understand about load shedding and water restrictions or water cuts is that these are not due to the landlord’s fault. As a result, tenants can’t request a rental remission from their landlord. Neither are landlords legally obliged to provide generators, inverters or water tanks…

However, the situation does provide landlords with an opportunity to add value to their property investment and receive higher rental returns with the addition of a generator to their property.

You only need to look at rental listings in the Cape Town CBD, for example, to see how being in an area where load shedding doesn’t occur is a massive win.

In fact, I know of a few people who have explicitly sought out areas unaffected by load shedding when hunting for their next rental or property purchase.

Day Zero was all about that JoJo tank in the backyard and now it’s your power supply.

Should the tenant require a generator, inverter or water tank to be installed at the property but the landlord cannot provide one, then this will be for the account of the tenant. This applies to both the residential property sector as well as the commercial property sector, including retail, industrial and office tenants.

It’s important to understand that once installed on the property, the generator, inverter or water tank will be considered a fixture to the property and will become the property of the landlord, unless there is a prior agreement.

Something to bear in mind before you plough ahead with upgrades and then move on in a year.

You may also want to check with your neighbours if you plan on using one of those noisy generators. Please, life is insufferable enough without that constant hum in the background.

Ask one of your tech-savvy friends for inverter suggestions, which give off little to no sound and can generally power your essential items during the two-and-a-half hour (and sometimes four-hour) load shedding slots.

[source:iol]