The last time tenants of Houghton Gardens, a block of flats in Yeoville, Johannesburg, had a working lift was eight years ago.

A recent decision by Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies to amend the Building Regulation and the Building Standards Act to ensure the state fixes faulty lifts in buildings will come as a relief to many inner city residents like those of Houghton Gardens.

For the past eight years the Organisation of Civil Rights (OCR) in Durban has been lobbying for a change in legislation and this has finally borne fruit.

Consumer Line visited Houghton Gardens last week and watched tenants of different ages and health conditions struggle to walk up and down the stairs of the four floors.

The building houses about 280 people, said its caretaker Maxwell Mbatha.

The proposed amendments will benefit tenants like Cal Chan and his wife Tere who have been living there for the past 35 years.

Chan recalled the difficult times they have been having without functional lifts like when he was injured a few years ago and had to use crutches.

"The lifts are also the only way that any wheelchair-bound person can get up and down the building," said Chan.

He said the problem was attributed to various maintenance companies who allegedly stole certain parts when called to fix the lifts.

Tere's mother died of a heart attack in December 2009 as emergency personnel struggled to get to their 3rd floor flat.

Eleanor Levinson, 75, a member of the body corporate, said the two lifts in the building date back to 1954 when the building was erected.

They decided to switch off the lifts after a service provider told them that important parts had been stolen.

Unlike Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal has had a number of deaths as a result of nonfunctional lifts.

The survey conducted by Dr Sayed Iqbal Mohamed, the chairman of OCR, in June showed that out of 113 buildings, only 26 buildings had functional lifts.

Mohamed said his office had been investigating this problem since 2007. He said the deterioration of the lifts in sectional title buildings was attributed to absent owners and those who lack the commitment to fix them.

"Some tenants who pay their rent promptly also suffer because of the wrongs of the landlord who do not pay their levies," he said.

He said most of the lifts were shut down by the Department of Labour for safety reasons, but the legislation was silent regarding the maintenance of the lifts and what the department should do so they could function again.

The responsibility ultimately lies with each municipality to engage with the affected residents, said Mohamed.

He said he felt victorious when the DTI told him that there was legislation that could be amended to look at rectifying this problem.

Two weeks ago the DTI asked Mohamed's office to cooperate with the eThekwini municipality in applying the relevant regulation to resolve the problem of dysfunctional lifts in the city.

Davies confirmed that the DTI is in the process to amend the act to alleviate the problem.