1471 cases and 494 title deeds: the TSC case load as at 10 April 2022
The Transaction Support Centre (TSC) has been operating in Makhaza, Khayelitsha for three years. Since opening its doors in July 2018, the TSC has engaged with 1 471 clients, and handed out 494 title deeds, of which 428 were for properties where no title deed had ever been issued, another 17 were for deceased estates, and 33 were for the regularisation of informal cash sales. *Hover over the image and click on the arrow to go to the next slide*
Notes: *Door-to-door enumeration conducted as part of a larger project piloting the use case of Blockchain technology to create a secure property registry. **Total exceeds number of cases with title deed problems as one case may have multiple problems to regularise the title deed (i.e. informal cash sale & deceased estate). Administrative title deed problems include incorrect names or ID numbers added to title deeds, or a spouse that wasn’t added to the title deed (typically involves very old title deeds), or missing / lost title deeds (require a VA application).
DEFINITIONS: TYPES OF TITLE DEED PROBLEMS
PRIMARY TRANSFER
This occurs primarily in government-subsidised stock, where the property has not yet been transferred from the State to the beneficiary. The beneficiary may have been living in the house for many years but is not the registered owner and therefore cannot legally sell the property, or leverage the asset to access financing for any home improvements or renovations. If the beneficiary dies heirs cannot inherit the property. Beneficiaries also cannot interact with the municipality about their properties because they are not recognised as owners. This means that the municipality cannot directly bill for services delivered, and the beneficiary cannot get approvals for building work they wish to undertake on the property.
DECEASED ESTATE
When the registered owner of a property dies, the property has to be transferred out of the deceased estate to the heirs. This can be complicated where there is no will in place – a common problem in the low-value property market – and the rules of intestate succession determine who the property should be transferred to.
INFORMAL CASH SALE
This relates to a property sale where buyers and sellers do not use a conveyancer to register the transaction in the Deeds Registry. Typically, buyers and sellers will sign an affidavit endorsed by a street committee or at the police station. These affidavits are not legally binding documents. They are often not dates and can easily be forged. Buyers who have bought houses this way can be evicted by the registered owners or heirs of the deceased registered owners.
ADMINISTRATIVE
Includes cases where the original title deed has been lost / damaged or where the name or ID number on the title deed needs to be corrected (e.g. misspelled name). Other administrative cases involve the TSC following up with City officials on title deed which are registered in the Deeds Office but which have never been handed over to clients. The Transaction Support Centre (TSC) is a joint project of 71point4 and The Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF) and is currently funded by The Oppenheimer Generations Fund.
