In June last year the City Council approved the revised municipal planning bylaw. The amendment enables the City to impound moveable property, such as machinery and equipment, being used for illegal building work when an order to stop work is ignored. According to the City, it helps clamp down on building contraventions.

Impoundment powers

Eddie Andrews, Deputy Mayor and Mayco member for Spatial Planning and the Environment, said the impoundment provision was added to the bylaw to give the City immediate recourse when owners continue illegal building work despite a stop-work order.

“Some owners ignore the orders and continue their construction work, as they are prepared to pay the fines involved. These matters also often take considerable time to conclude in court, and the surrounding communities are impacted while we seek legal recourse.”

Andrews said the City can now impound the movable property of the developer, the owner, and the contractor involved in the illegal work. In all four cases to date where notices of intent to impound were issued, the illegal building work stopped immediately.

“We trust this is a trend that will gain momentum.”

Early results

Since the start of the impoundment project in March 2026:

• Four intention to impoundment notices have been served in Diep River, Hout Bay, Milnerton and Mowbray
• No actual impoundments have taken place as yet, as the illegal building work has stopped immediately after the notices were served

Inspectors and common contraventions

The City has 76 building inspectors who conduct on average 16 000 inspections per month at building sites across the metro.

The most common contraventions are building without an approved plan, or deviating from approved plans. These are mostly by private individuals.

A city-wide challenge

“Unfortunately, there is a culture of disrespect towards the rules and regulations of the municipal planning bylaw, national building regulations and the development management scheme that assigns zoning rights,” Andrews said. “This is a challenge across the whole city, and not a single suburb or planning area can be singled out.

“The issuing of notices to stop illegal building work is also not a simple matter. It is sometimes a challenge to determine ownership, or to get hold of the owner, as the notice must be served on the owner. Sometimes our inspectors are prevented from entering sites to conduct follow-up inspections. A separate enforcement process is then needed just to gain access and check whether there is compliance with the notice. Court processes also take a long time to conclude, and this frustrates surrounding neighbours and the City alike.

“Luckily, with the impoundment provision in the municipal planning bylaw we can deal decisively with those who display a flagrant disregard of our building and planning regulations.

“This is a game changer for us. Contractors do not want to risk having their equipment impounded when the property owner has not followed due process to get approved building plans. This new enforcement regime is getting into higher gear, and we can already see a mindshift taking place.”

How inspections work

• Building inspectors visit sites for compulsory inspections of the foundation, drainage, and upon completion. In complex or problematic cases, multiple inspections are required. Deviations from approved building plans, known as unauthorised work, are mostly identified at completion. These then require follow-up inspections to ensure compliance or enforcement
• Inspections to monitor progress are done at sites where work has been stalled for a while, or where issues may arise
• Inspectors also conduct inspections where a complaint is lodged with the City about possible illegal building work, or deviations from approved plans
• Demolition orders are issued through a Western Cape High Court procedure. The extent of the contraventions determines whether the city will pursue this route, which is usually a drawn-out and costly process
• The City obtains, on average, two demolition orders per year.

Illegal building statistics: 1 January to 26 June 2026

• 3 883 complaints received: 925 (Tygerberg district); 620 (Southern district); 502 (Mitchells Plain/Khayelitsha district); 407 (Cape Flats district); 387 (Northern district); 372 (Blaauwberg district); 361 (Table Bay district); and 309 (Helderberg district)
• Most complaints related to illegal building work (2 021); boundary walls (256); building after hours (137); and building rubble (121)
• 12 566 inspections were conducted across the city during this period
• 1 384 notices were served as a result of illegal building work during this period

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