A circular has been sent out by the Cape Town Deeds Office that it will be open re-open on 13 May 2020, with the following strict guidelines:

  1. The opening of the Deeds Office is subject to all applicable heath measures being in place.
  2. There will only be an 18 member staff compliment, which falls well below the mandated 1/3 maximum threshold and is insufficient to adequately discharge the service delivery requirements.
  3. Due to the above, no time frames can be given for the examination period from lodgement to registration.
  4. The Deeds Office has gone further to request that low impact matters not be lodged for examination at present as they will further delay the streamlining of the process and more financially sensitive matters, such as:
    1. extension of sectional title sections;
    2. cessions; and
    3. other transactions with no immediate commercial impact.
  5. Should it be necessary for transactions that fall within 4 above to be lodged, it will be necessary for the conveyancer to request that such lodgement be permitted with a motivation letter. Please note that the Registrar has discretion to refuse lodgement.
  6. All Deeds Office services will be available, and lodgements will be accepted.
  7. ONLY conveyancers will be allowed into the Deeds Office building – no members of the public will be permitted to enter.
  8. For all matters that were lodged before lockdown, Conveyancers will be permitted to replace the expired Rates Clearance Certificates and other such supporting documentation when the transaction becomes available for registration.
  9. This means that the matters will not be automatically rejected for expired Rates Certificates and the like as would normally be the case.

Should you have any specific questions or need any advice regarding your position and the Deeds Office, please do not hesitate to contact Michelle Fiorentinos at michelle@dmllaw.co.za

We will keep you appraised of any further updates.