Residents Information

The Melrose Residents Association (MRA) was established to represent Melrose and Melrose Estate (collectively referred to as “Melrose” hereafter) property owners and residents in all matters pertaining to their suburbs and their properties.

The members of the MRA are elected annually at the Annual General Meeting of the MRA which is usually held in May of each year. Any adult resident of Melrose is eligible to be elected on to the MRA and interested and energetic residents are encouraged to make themselves available for election.

New Residents
If you are a new resident, welcome to you and your family to Melrose. The residents of Melrose are proud of this lovely suburb and are anxious to preserve its gracious residential character, which makes it the sought after suburb it is.
You are encouraged to interest yourself and participate in community matters. The MRA's efforts to preserve and enhance Melrose can only be successful if it enjoys the active support of its residents.
To become involved, send your details to our email address at melrosegauteng@gmail.com.

Website
This website contains information relevant to Melrose and is a forum for communication between the MRA and Melrose residents. melrosera.blogspot.com

Street Representatives
Each street in Melrose has a street representative whose responsibility it is to maintain the accuracy of our database in respect of each property in that street, to represent the owners of the properties in that street and to be a conduit for communication between the MRA and the residents on all matters of interest or which affect the suburb and its residents.  Alternatively send your details directly to the committee on melrosegauteng@gmail.com

The details of the current street representatives are as follows:

STREET	REPRESENTATIVE	CONTACT NUMBER
North Street	Sue Truter	083 457 4021
St Andrews Street	Andrew Sutherland	083 272 5554
Jellicoe Avenue	Trevor Faber	082 921 1888
Melrose Street	Jacques van Staden	082 441 1563
Rose Street	Markus Scheuermaier	083 459 3828
Tyrwhitt Avenue
Glenhove Road	Louise Archibald	011 788 8339
Oxford Road
Tottenham Avenue	Rob Sutherland	083 251 6868
Cecil Avenue	Liz du Bourg	083 946 4310
Jameson Avenue	Ann Finlayson	083 408 5212
Reform Avenue	Andrew Wilson	083 326 1103
Victoria Avenue	David Newton	082 602 0215
Arran Avenue	Ireen Spicer	083 266 9301
Bute Avenue	Paul Davis	083 600 2896
Venus Street	Mark Moses	083 454 6888
5th Street
Sommerville Avenue	Sue Bergh	082 459 2349
Portman Place, Melrose Court and Rosebank Mews	David Collett	079 523 4482

Security
Security in Melrose is an ongoing focus of the MRA in order to ensure that residents enjoy a safe, crime-free living environment. Security is approached on a 3 level basis:

• public space monitoring and response;
• street guarding;
• home security and armed response.

The MRA concerns itself with the first of these, namely public space monitoring and response, and seeks to procure a uniform approach by residents to the other two. Public space monitoring and response is provided by MB CAP http://www.mbcap.co.za/, a community-based organisation. It has proved to be a highly effective initiative and you are asked to provide your support to it.

Contributors to the scheme receive a sign confirming they are contributors. The monthly charge is R820.00 for houses, R550 for complex units and R165 for flats. This is a small price to pay for a secure, safe and stress-free suburb. Please contact Karen Dodo on 082 556 2552 to arrange your contribution. All residents are encouraged to be vigilant and are asked to report any suspicious activity to MB CAP on 086 18 000 18.

Home Security and armed response services are the responsibility of each individual resident. Whilst the MRA does not prescribe that any particular service provider should be used, it does encourage residents to use a single service provider for reasons of efficiency and cost.

Street guarding is provided either on a house by house basis or by a group of residents for the street as a whole. Your street representative will advise you of the practice in your street.

Town Planning and Traffic Matters

Because of its central position, Melrose is constantly under development threat which could have the effect of changing the character of the suburb. A major focus of the MRA is monitoring development proposals which impact upon Melrose directly or indirectly.

This often entails opposing town planning applications, sometimes using professional consultants.

Likewise, development activity often brings with it traffic issues such as rat running or increased traffic volumes.

In order to be able to address these issues, the MRA requires financial contributions from residents. Part of the annual fee which the MRA levies its members is applied towards the costs incurred by it in dealing with town planning and traffic matters. Your support for this is essential. 
The MRA is currently engages in a revision of the precinct plan.

Compliance with by-laws
Non-compliance with by-laws is not tolerated in Melrose. In particular, building and town planning infringements, as well as the illegal operation of businesses, are not accepted.
Should you observe any infringement you are asked:

• to report it to the Council on 011 490 1630 or fax 011 490 1860 (please obtain a reference number and the name of the person you spoke to);
• to advise the MRA chairman by email on lewisneu@icon.co.za or 011 442 7509;
• to follow up with the person to whom you spoke within 2 weeks.

Maintenance of Public Areas
The MRA makes every effort to monitor the public areas in our suburbs and to obtain the assistance of the Council in maintaining our suburbs for the benefit of our residents. However your assistance is needed in looking after your pavements, fences and gutters. Please report any Council items to Joburg Connect 011 375 5555 and if necessary draw this to the attention of Rhonda Hird of the MRA at hirdhomesa@iafrica.com

Database
The MRA maintains a database of all residents and owners in Melrose. This is essential for a number of reasons, not least of all to enable efficient and reliable communication between the MRA and Melrose residents.
Address for updating contact details is melrosegauteng@gmail.com

Annual Fee

The MRA levies an annual fee which for the 2015/2016 year is R750 per house, R500 per complex/flat. This covers the costs of administering the MRA and of dealing with town planning, traffic and other matters of importance to or affecting Melrose. These fees are levied in March of each year and payment is due in that month. This fee is nothing to do with MBCAP which levies its own monthly fees as described above. Where required, payment can be effected on a monthly basis provided that a debit order is signed for this purpose. Your street representative can assist you to put this in place.

Without the financial support of its residents, the MRA cannot undertake the activities required to protect and improve Melrose. Please make payment to Melrose Residents Association:

Melrose Residents Association

Bank Name: First National Bank

Bank Branch: Craighall Branch

Branch code: 255805

Account no: 50373620647

Ref: (please state your name and address as a reference)

It is hoped that your association with Melrose will be a long and happy one. Your positive participation in the initiatives of the MRA will be an important part of ensuring that Melrose remains a desirable, up-market suburb with rising property values.