Hon Deputy Speaker, the Deeds Registries Act, No 47 of 1937, and the Sectional Titles Act, No 95 of 1986, deal primarily with registration issues relating to the registration of the transfer of land, and the opening and transfer of properties in sectional titles schemes.
The Sectional Titles Act of 1986 contains provisions for the registration and surveying of sectional titles units as well as manager-related provisions for the governance of sectional titles schemes.
The Sectional Titles Amendment Bill aims to improve registration procedures, which will be for the benefit of sectional titles developers and bodies corporate.
The Deeds Registries Amendment Bill of 2010 seeks to amend the Deeds Registries Act by deleting certain obsolete references to a registrar of mining titles or a mining commissioner in sections 3(1)(u) of the Act; providing for the extension of duties of the Registrar, as provided for by the insertion of sections 2(1)(d) and 3(1)(z); facilitating operations of the Deeds Registries Regulations Board; providing for the appointment of alternate members to the board as provided for by the insertion of section 3(A); providing for the disclosure of full names and marital status of persons in all deeds and documents to be executed or lodged for registration or record in a deeds registry as provided for by the amendment of section 17(2); providing for the issuing of a certificate of registered title in respect of a fraction of an undivided share in land as provided for by the insertion of section 34(1)(a); and finally, amending certain definitions in section 102 to fall in line with constitutional imperatives. Thank you. [Applause.]
Deputy Speaker, the briefing by the department on the Deeds Registries Amendment Bill sets out the aims of the proposed amendments. Most of these provisions were made to remove areas of confusion that currently exist and to update the definitions.
An important proposal is to legally oblige registrars to comply with the directives from the Chief Registrar of Deeds. Due to the fact that South African law does not explicitly guarantee title to land, it is critical that the deeds registration system effectively guarantees this title. The current system is failing property owners as major syndicates are exploiting the gap in the Act.
At present, all 10 deeds registry offices have their own practices that are causing problems and discrepancies. Three weeks ago, the deeds offices in Pretoria were put in the spotlight for the fraudulent transfer of 33 properties owned by the Johannesburg Property Company. This amendment will ensure that the State Attorney will be responsible for conveyance and the transfer of state and municipal land.
The second important amendment is clause 5, which amends section 34 of the Bill. It makes provision for the owner of a piece of land to apply for a certificate of registered title for his or her undivided share of the land, where the land was subject to joint ownership.
The amendment would provide for the issuing of a certificate of registered title of any fraction of his or her undivided share. The implication of this could have widespread benefits for people in joint ownership of property, as this will allow all co-owners to have a title registered in their own name.
The Sectional Titles Amendment Act is the legislation that governs apartments, townhouses, office blocks and other building blocks, where multiple owners hold a type of property ownership known as sectional titles.
Important amendments are found in clause 1(d), which provides for a body corporate to approach the court in instances where it had been unable to obtain a unanimous resolution.
Clause 3(a) determines confusion arising from a sectional title register opened on more than one piece of land and clause 6, which did not cater for the issuing of a certificate of a registered title, in a sectional titles scheme, in respect of a fraction of an undivided share in a unit. What all these mean is that the body corporate will know exactly what their rights are and that all grey areas will be deleted.
The DA supports both Bills. Thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Deputy Speaker, the amendment to the Sectional Titles Act is long overdue, considering that the original Bill was formulated 25 years ago.
The most significant amendments relate to the redefining of the boundaries between certain sections; allowing bonds to be registered in respect of separate pieces of land shown on the sectional plan; allowing for one or more certificates of real rights of extension to the property to be issued; allowing for one or more certificates of real rights of exclusive use areas to be issued at the opening of a sectional title register; and providing for the issuing of a certificate of a registered sectional title in respect of a fraction of an undivided share in a section.
This is a very encouraging development, as it will allow for an individual, under the prescribed conditions, to have the right to a title deed for a room in an apartment or house. In Northern Ireland, Scotland and Canada, co- ownership has been used fairly successfully for quite a while. The advantage of owning rather than renting is an obvious benefit.
The implications of this amendment are vast. It will allow new house designs with common areas and exclusive rights areas, enabling individuals to have a foothold on the property market. It will make it possible for banks to lend incrementally to individuals who otherwise would have been excluded from the property market.
Individuals, who default at present, lose their entire property. In this new way, individuals can borrow a little, pay that off and then upscale, using the proceeds as a deposit. In times of stress, they can sell off parts of their property to meet their financial obligations.
Property ownership will now be opened up to more people than ever before. This will make a major contribution to alleviating the plight of the homeless and historically disadvantaged. I thank you.
Hon Deputy Speaker, the Sectional Titles Amendment Bill correctly seeks to align the Act with current trends in the sectional titles market. Norms and procedures change over time and this Bill seeks to address and incorporate those changes, thus providing adequate legal redress for owners of sectional titles in their dealings with both local authorities and among themselves.
Key objectives are the legitimising of current practice of levying for special contributions; the removal of confusion around the opening of the sectional titles register for more than one piece of land; the provision for cancellation of exclusive use areas and to provide for the issuing of certificates of real rights of extension and certificates of real rights of exclusive use areas at the opening of the sectional titles register.
The Deeds Registries Act, as it stands, has many obsolete and obfuscated provisions. One has only to wander into the deeds office to see queues of conveyance attorneys, waiting somewhat impatiently, to see a deeds office examiner about an unclear provision in the Deeds Registries Act.
The Deeds Registries Amendment Bill will go a long way in addressing such issues, and like the Sectional Titles Amendment Bill, will have the desired and intended effect of bringing its source legislation into the 21st century. A pragmatic and inherently practical approach is required when dealing with legislation of this nature and the IFP is confident that these two pieces of legislation do just that. The IFP supports both Bills. I thank you.
Deputy Speaker and hon members, the Bills before us relate to property rights. It is a topic that is complex at the best of times. The original Act dates back to 1986 and, since then, the constitutional and legislative framework has radically changed. Consequently, there have been major developments regarding the legal possibilities of sectional titles for those who own such property, those who manage it as well as their agent representatives.
Sectional titles have always been fraught with complexity due to the inherent nature of property rights within sectional titles being partially shared and partially not.
With the advent of democracy, it has become even more important to ensure that collective and individual ownership and management issues that arise within sectional titles should be handled in a manner that is consistent with the spirit of the new constitutional order. Therefore, for instance, numerous steps have been taken with these two Bills to protect the ability of bodies corporate to manage their affairs properly. Consequently, the UDM supports the two Bills. Thank you.
Deputy Speaker, we welcome the fact that this amendment seeks to introduce uniformity and the application of practice and procedure guidelines by the Chief Registrar of Deeds. This will result in coherent services at deeds offices across the country and this is what we would like to see at all government service points. Service must not be discretionary, but uniform.
We also agree that the appointment of alternate members to the board is a time and cost-effective move and ensures that there shall be no undue delays in the board taking decisions as a result of absenteeism. The UCDP supports both Bills. Thank you.
Deputy Speaker, the MF welcomes the amendments to both pieces of legislation. Government's mandate to deliver houses for the ordinary suffering masses is one of the greatest challenges that we experience.
The fact that the Bill speaks to creating wealth and assets for those that have been previously disadvantaged, is gratifying. However, there might be obstacles in achieving these desired goals. One of the most devastating impacts is the issue of managing agents. With respect to this, it is rather important for the piece of legislation to provide for managing agents not to sell out people's properties. Indeed, government's mandate to deliver houses will nullify the policies.
The other aspect is the issue of long delays and, therefore, the amendments must speak to the competence skills in various municipalities where people are delayed to achieve the sectional titles and wait for over 21 years. Both pieces of legislation are welcomed by the MF, provided that it achieves its desired goals and fast-tracks solving the issues of those that are waiting to achieve their long-awaited sectional title deeds. We support both Bills. Thank you.
Deputy Speaker, the ANC supports both Bills. The introduction of these two Bills must be seen against the broader transformation programme that the ANC envisages in dealing with land and its registration and property rights, how these are administered and what should happen with this when a dispute arises.
The ANC in governing the state and the vast scope of its operations has to apply in a consistent and coherent way the necessary transformation tools that will both address the constitutional requirements and the policy objectives of the ANC.
In doing this, the need to transform historical systems that were designed under previous political regimes whose ideology and philosophical orientation does not reflect the building of a national democratic society means that there are a range of structural, systematic and process matters that will require major transformation. This is true of the two Bills that are before the House today for debate.
Chairperson, the process of administering systems whose designs do not reflect the values of the new South Africa has brought with it the need for specific changes to existing legislation.
Coupled with this is the campaign of the ANC to root out corruption where we find it within any given system of government. The extent of the administration of the government has become a haven for certain dishonest practices by individuals who do not have the interest of the state and the new democratic order in their hearts.
Painfully, we have come to realise that not all share the vision of the future national democratic state that we are trying to build and that they rather seek to undermine the systems that operate it to gain personally, temporary and short-term material benefits.
This has meant that, in particular when it comes to matters of property, property rights and their regulation, we have to ensure that we have the requisite legislation and regulations that will include in our society the values that we are trying to espouse.
This means that legislation will become one of the first areas we need to visit in order to strengthen our systems and install a culture that is commensurate with the national democratic society we are building.
Certainly, if we root out corrupt practices, tightening of legislation becomes necessary. It is from our experiences that we bring today before this House such legislation that will both reflect the spirit and intention of the new order, but also safeguard the state and the private citizen from corrupt and unscrupulous individuals.
It would be true to say that the integrity of the existing systems has come into disrepute in certain cases and, therefore, as the legislative arm of the state, we are duty bound as the ANC to ensure that this is corrected speedily.
The deeds registration is a system where documents are recorded in the land registry as the evidence of title, while the registration of the title is a system where the register itself is the primary evidence.
The South African system is regarded as one of the most effective systems in the world. It is against this backdrop that the proposed amendments, built on the achievements attained, enhance the future development of a better system of deeds registries.
The Bill amends the Deeds Registry Act of 1937 so as to conform to current uniform practices of deeds registration. The ANC in government has assessed the existing legislation and has clarified its mind that improvements to the existing legislations are both overdue and necessary. The improvement of the technical skills of staff and institutional arrangements will be enhanced by the proposed amendments. This in turn will assist in the increasing demands that are being brought onto the services of the deeds registries.
Through the land reform programme the state is transferring large tracts of land to previously disadvantaged communities, who will own land communally or individually. As a result, it impacts upon the work of the deeds registries. Experience has shown that we need a more complex registration system and, in particular, certain procedures that are going to deal with the bad practices. In turn, this requires the retaining and development of staff.
Further challenges in the deeds registry system relates to registrars not being obliged to follow practices, procedures and directives that are issued from time to time by the Chief Registrar of Deeds. This is untenable and it is a practice that cannot be allowed to continue. It leads to fragmentation and a breakdown in the line function of any state administration.
Therefore, varying practices and procedures only lead to poor service delivery and begin to render a system operating at a suboptimal level. Critical in any state administration is the need for mechanisms to be in place to ensure uniformity and conformity to practices and procedures. South Africa still operates in a dual property system, one formal system based on common law ownership and one system that resembles customary law adapted to suit the political needs of colonialism and apartheid, or colonialism of a special type as we like to refer to it. Clearly in a new democratic order this must change.
As we amend the Deeds Registry Act, it is important to remind ourselves of the challenges confronting people living in rural areas, in particular the former so-called homelands. The majority live under weaker forms of security of tenure in that they do not own the land they occupy in the title deed, whether communally or individually. This is in contradiction with the Constitution which guarantees entitlement to tenure reform.
A person of community, whose tenure of land is legally insecure as a result of the past racially discriminatory laws or practices, is entitled to the extent provided by an Act of Parliament, either to tenure which is legally secure or to comparable redress.
Considerable progress has been made towards a unified, comprehensive, cost- effective and modern system of record keeping of the rights in land that will ensure security of title to land owners. However, there are still challenges with regard to the system of the rural areas. The extent to which rural people can apply for certificates of registered titles for their individual share in land is extremely limited because the majority of them do not own the land on which they live.
Speaker, whilst many would say that this Bill is technical in nature, in reality the Bill again begins to address the questions of class, race and gender, in that it deals with property rights, the rights of exclusive use, the rights of extension, and it also redefines boundaries.
All of this with our history and economic location have historically created tension and a conflict of interest. The settling of these matters brings into play issues of class, race and gender and, of course, access to legal backing.
Whilst our Constitution gives rights, it equally expects obligations - especially when we deal with property-vested interests that arise and which seek to threaten the spirit and intention of the nature and type of society we wish to build. Clearly, the state cannot be dragged into matters of private property disputes, but it equally has to oversee how disputes are settled and by whom as well as the fairness and the equality thereof.
Boundaries have huge implications and often lead to severe disagreements. It is the duty of the ANC government to have in place legislation that can ensure equity in dealing with property rights and access. This Bill amends the Sectional Titles Act of 1986 in order to amend definitions, redefine boundaries, deal with issues of common property and how it is demarcated and to regulate the substitution of bonds registered in respect of different pieces of legislation.
The Bill further provides for the issuing of certificates of real rights of extension and certificates of real rights of exclusive use of areas. Under the Bill, the issuing of a certificate of registered sectional title is in respect of an undivided share in a section.
The vesting of rights of exclusive use of reas where an owner ceases to be a member of a body corporate are also covered by this Bill, as is the provision of the cancellation of exclusive use of the area rights. From what I have just said, it becomes obvious that this is not a technical Bill. Rather, the ANC seeks to ensure that we have a more equitable manner in which to deal with vested interests when it comes to property rights under sectional title. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Deputy Speaker, I sincerely appreciate the support that we received from all the parties that spoke here, thanks very much for that; secondly, thanks also for the insights that have been thrown into the debate, we fully appreciate that.
The point that has been made about the Deeds Office in Pretoria and elsewhere is valid. Part of what contributed to that breakthrough is a scoping exercise that we are carrying out in the deeds registration system. We are scoping out the potential fraud, corruption and collusion. That is part of what happened in this situation. We thank hon Steyn for that comment. Indeed the broad transformation question is at play here.
Cabinet has instructed us to look at the deeds registration system with a view to deeper transformation of that system in the lines that the hon Matlanyane has commented on here. So, indeed the process has already commenced there. We are hoping that we will soon align the deeds registration system with the principles of the Constitution for a democratic South Africa. Thank you very much, hon Deputy Speaker. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Hon members, are there any objections to the Deeds Registries Amendment Bill being read a second time? No objection? Agreed to. Are there any objections to the Sectional Titles Amendment Bill being read a second time? None. Agreed to.
Deeds Registries Amendment Bill read a second time.
Sectional Titles Amendment Bill read a second time.