DEEDS OFFICE
WHAT IS THE DEEDS REGISTRY OFFICE?
The Deeds Registry Office is a Government office where an owner registers a property in
his name. The registration is done by a conveyancer or attorney. Bonds, ante-nuptial
contracts notarial deeds of servitude are also registered in the Deeds Office by a
conveyancer. It functions in terms of the Deeds Registries Act No. 47 of 1937 as amended
as well as the Sectional Titles Act No. 66 of 1971.
WHAT IS A DEED OF TRANSFER?
This is a legal document by means of which an owner holds title (ownership) to his
property.
WHAT IS IN A DEED OF TRANSFER?
The Deed of Transfer may be a very simple one. Many of the older deeds contain only the
barely essential information. This includes the names of the seller and buyer, a correct
description of the property, the price, the dates of sale and transfer and the name of the
attorney or conveyancer who is granted authority by the seller to appear before the
Registrar of Deeds in order to pass transfer.
In the case of expropriations and transfers by inheritance, no price is mentioned. Then
most Deeds of Transfer of plots in newer townships and subdivisions also contain
numerous additional clauses such as the following:
1. A restriction on the use of the property to a particular purpose, eg. residential or
industrial or commercial. In the case of a plot that is zoned for single residential use,
there will be a restriction in the Deed to one dwelling being built on the plot.
2. A restriction in the case of residential property to the ownership and use by a
particular population group: White, Coloured or African.
3. A restriction of the type of dwelling that can be erected. For instance the Deed
might specify a house with slate or tile roof must be built, no corrugated-iron fences,
a house of a minimum cost of R 7 000, etc.
4. A right (in townships approved over the last three of four years) of the local authority
to levy rates as if a house of a certain value was built on the plot, if such a house is
not built within a specified time such as three years from the date of the first transfer
or from the date of the first sale in the township.
5. A right by the local authority to pass cables or pipes over the land within a certain
distance of the boundary of the plot, and to dig and excavate whenever necessary
to give attention to their installations.
6. A restriction against further subdivision of the land, unless by special consent of the
Administrator or the province.
WHAT IS A CERTIFICATE OF CONSOLIDATED TITLE?
This is a Deed of Transfer by which a consolidation of erven is registered. It contains a list
of erven being consolidated together with the information contained in a normal Deed of
Transfer.
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WHAT IS A CERTIFICATE OF REGISTERED TITLE?
This refers to the exclusion of a property from a number of properties previously held
under one Deed of Transfer and its subsequent registration as a separate property.
WHAT IS A NOTARIAL DEED OF SERVITUDE?
This is a Deed of Transfer containing the description of the servitude, a diagram of the
servitude, the conditions governing the servitude with which the owner of the relevant
property must comply and showing in whose favour the servitude is registered. A servitude
must be registered to obviate any dispute as to who possesses the legal right to it.
Any lease longer than 25 years must have a diagram of the area leased and must also be
registered by a notarial deed of servitude.
WHAT IS A DIAGRAM DEED?
This is the Deed of Transfer wherein the subdivision (diagram) of a property is registered
for the first time. When this property is transferred after the first registration the consequent
Deed of Transfer will always refer to the Deed of Transfer (now diagram …) to which the
diagram is annexed.
Up to approximately 1970 a property situated in a township had a diagram, but since time
the practice of framing a diagram of a property situated in a township has been abolished
and now the diagram deed and any subsequent Deeds of Transfer will refer to the General
Plan of the township filed in the Surveyor-General’s office.
WHAT IS A REGISTER?
This is a book in which the properties of an allotment area (see attached list of all areas)
are listed showing the Deed of Transfer number, the date of registration, the … the owner,
any deductions from the property and occasionally the ethnic group in which the property
is situated.
WHAT IS A BOND?
This is a loan agreement between an owner and a financier which is registered in the
Deeds Office.
WHAT ARE OLD CAPE FREEHOLDS AND CAPE QUITRENTS?
Old Cape Freeholds were granted of land free of charge or obligations. Cape Quitrents …
grants of land involving either payment or the rendering of services. Old Cape Freeholds
and Cape Quitrents were replaced by Crown Grants bestowed either free of charge or
payment.
WHAT IS AN ANTE-NUPTIAL CONTRACT?
An ante-nuptial contract is a contract between a couple wedded out of community of
property. It relates to the separate assets retained by each marriage partner. For example,
should a woman married out of community of property purchase a property, it will be
registered in her name and not the name of her husband.
WHERE TO FIND BONDS?
Title Deeds and bonds are in the basement. Registers and Notarial Deeds are on the
ground floor. Old Cape Freeholds, Cape Quitrents, Crown Grants and Ante-nuptial
Contracts are on the second floor.
HOW TO GO ABOUT OBTAINING INFORMATION?
When one has the property description but not the owner’s name or title deed number,
these can be found in the registers.
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When one has only the owner’s Christian names and surname (the Christian names are
important) the girls operating an index machine on the ground floor will supply you with a
list of the properties owned by the owner.
When one has only the title deed number but not the description of the property or the
owner’s name or the purchase price or the applicable conditions of these, these can be
traced in the relevant Deed of Transfer books in the basement.
IMPORTANT:
Always watch out for endorsements on Deeds of Transfer i.e. servitude endorsements,
bonds, registration endorsements, etc.
ALLOTMENT AREAS:
An allotment area is a region within the Muni9cipality demarcated by crosses on the
Surveyor-General’s noting sheets and designed to simplify property descriptions.
Allotment areas in the Peninsula are as follows:
Bakhoven, Bantry Bay, Bergvliet, Bishops Court, Camps Bay, Clifton, Constantia, Fish
Hoek, Fresnaye, Green Point, Hout Bay, Kloof Nek, Kommetjie, Llandudno, Meadowridge,
Milnerton, Noord Hoek, Oranjezicht, Ottery, Pinelands, Roggebaai, Sea Point East, Sea
Point West, Thornton, Vredehoek,
Cape Town at - Athlone
- Brooklyn
- Cape Town
- Claremont
- Clovelly
- Crawford
- Diep River
- Gardens
- Glencairn
- Heathfield
- Kalk Bay
- Kenilworth
- Kensington
- Lakeside
- Lansdowne
- Maitland
- Mowbray
- Muizenberg
- Newlands
- Observatory
- Paarden Island
- Plumstead
- Retreat
- Rosebank
- Rugby
- Salt River
- Steenberg
- St James
- Woodstock
- Wynberg
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WHAT IS THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL’S OFFICE?
This is a government office where diagrams or properties and general plans of townships
are approved and filed. Noting sheets are also filed here. The general public, attorneys,
conveyancers and land surveyors can all obtain information from the Surveyor-General’s
office in respect of dimensions of properties, group area classifications, status of …
servitude, whether a subdivision has been approved or not, and in what local authority
property is situated. Copies of diagrams of properties, copies of servitude diagrams and
copies of general plans may also be obtained here. It functions in terms of the Survey Act
No.9 of 1927 as amended.
NOTING SHEETS:
These are compiled by the Surveyor-General’s office and show title deed boundaries of
properties (see 1 on Annexure A), group areas (bordered by a thin green line - see 1 on
Annexure B), municipal boundaries (bordered by a thick pink line – see 2 on Annexure A),
village management boards, local authorities (bordered by a thin pink line – see 3 on
Annexure A), servitudes (see 4 on Annexure A), erf numbers (see 5 on Annexure A), farm
numbers (see Annexure C) and allotment areas (shown by crosses – see 2 on Annexure
B).
There are two types of noting sheets, namely urban noting sheets and rural noting sheets.
Noting sheets were formally identified by letters and numbers (such as AH-2BB/Z 412) but
now they are identified only by numbers.
All roads are shown on noting sheets in the light brown shade known as burnt sienna.
WHAT IS AN ERF?
This is a surveyed piece of land in a township or subdivided estate which is registered in
the Deeds Office as an erf or formally as s stand, lot or plot.
WHAT IS A DIAGRAM?
This is a surveyed plan of a property showing the measurements, the coordinates of
beacons (pegs), the title deed description, the extent, deductions (subdivisions), servitudes
(if any) by which the property is affected and who surveyed it (see Annexure D & E).
Every diagram is allocated a number (for example Dg. No. 7173/74). The diagram number
is always in the top right hand corner.
WHAT IS A GENERAL PLAN?
This is a surveyed plan of ten or more properties showing the same information as a
diagram (see Annexure F).
Every general plan is allocated a number, such as 868ID, 127SD, TP8017, TP 369 (see
Annexure G).
WHAT IS A SERVITUDE DIAGRAM?
Servitudes are conditions in Deeds of Transfer which confer rights or impose obligation.
The most common are servitude granting a right of way over somebody’s land. A farmer
might, for example, want to servitude his land and sell off a piece which does not … onto a
public road. He would then grant the buyer the right to pass over a defined … of the
remainder of his land in order to reach the piece he has bought. A servitude … be
registered over each piece of land. In one case it would impose on the owner in perpetuity
the obligation of allowing the owner of the other piece a right of way and in the other case
it would entitle the owner to this right.
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Servitudes can be cancelled by agreement or where necessary can be removed by
application to the authorities who have the power to do so under a special Act of
Parliament called the Removal of Restrictions Act 1967.
WHAT IS A CONSOLIDATION?
This is a diagram of two or more properties which have been combined to form one
holding (see Annexure K). When a property is to be consolidated with on or more other
properties, its diagram will be endorsed with a note in pencil for as long as the
consolidation is unregistered, but once the consolidation is registered the pencil note will
be replaced by a stamp.
PROCEDURE WHEN OBTAINING A DIAGRAM:
If you do not have the description of a property (its erf number) but do have the location of
it, you first trace it to a map which is divided into noting sheets and then ask a member of
the ‘plans safe’ staff on the 4th floor to show you the relevant noting … on a viewer from
which you will obtain the erf or farm number. Having now obtained the description of the
property all you then need to do is to fill in the application form for copy of the diagram
which is then handed to you.
If you have only a diagram number you approach … on the 2 nd floor as she has a list of
diagram numbers together with the relevant property descriptions. One cannot otherwise
obtain property descriptions from diagrams numbers alone, as diagrams are filed
according to their erf or farm numbers and not by their diagram numbers. The exceptions
to this rule are servitude diagrams which are filed according to their diagram numbers.
THE TOWNSHIP BOARD:
A township board deals with subdivisions and consists of the following members:
(a) the Surveyor-General or his deputy
(b) the Registrar of Deeds or his deputy
(c) not more than four persons appointed by the Administrator, provided that no person
… holds a whole-time post in the service of the State shall be appointed under this
paragraph.
(d) not more than two persons appointed by the Administrator of whom one shall be
employed in the office of the Director: Local Government and the other in the office
of the Provincial Roads Engineer.
This Board holds its meeting in the Surveyor-General’s office.
SUBDIVISION AND HOW IT COMES INTO BEING:
When an owner wishes to subdivide his property he instructs a private land surveyor to
prepare a plan of proposed subdivision which is then submitted to the Local Authority
(either the Municipality or the Divisional Council). The Local Authority studies the proposed
subdivision and then forwards its recommendation to the Surveyor-General’s office where
the Township Board, in turn, also studies the proposed subdivision. If the Township Board
approves it, the plan of proposed subdivision is returned to the land surveyor together with
the Administrator’s formal approval. The land surveyor then frames the diagram and
submits it to9 the Surveyor-General for scrutiny and approval. When the diagram has been
approved, one copy is filed in the Surveyor-General’s office and when it has been
registered, another copy is filed in the Deeds Office.
However, if there is a condition in the Deed of Transfer prohibiting subdivision the
Township Board only approves the subdivision in principle until such time as this condition
(removed in terms of Act 84/1967) (Removal of Restrictions). The procedure is that the
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owner or an attorney instructed by the owner submits an application to the Local Authority
who in turn forwards it to the Administrator with his comments (recommending or refusing
the removal). The Administrator then instructs the owner or his attorney to publish, in the
local press, his intention to remove the condition prohibiting subdivision. If, after publishing
his intentions, letters of objections are received from residents in the district concerned,
the Administrator sends these to the Local Authority for reconsideration. And if in spite of
the objections, the Local Authority still recommends the removal of the condition, the
Administrator in turn will approve the removal. Once the removal of the condition has been
published in the Provincial Gazette, the condition is removed from the Deed of Transfer
and the subdivision is finally approved.
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