Understanding the Title Deed.
The idea of owning a house is an attractive one but what exactly does is mean to own property?
In today’s blog post we look at what a Title Deed is and what purpose it serves.
If you have plans of purchasing property or a vacant piece of land on which you plan on building property, whether for investment purposes or as a family home, you will need to have the Title Deed of the property transferred into your name as proof of ownership of the property. A Title Deed essentially refers to any deed which proves your right in respect of a piece of land or property, whether it is the right of ownership or any other real right, which includes deeds of transfer, mortgage bonds and deeds of servitudes.
You will need a Conveyancer, a qualified Attorney who specialises in property transfers, to assist you with the process of registering the property and transferring the Title Deed into your name. The ownership of a property into your name will take place when the Registrar of Deeds signs the Deed of Transfer, which is the legal document submitted to the Registrar when transferring property and is also referred to as the Title Deed.
Once the Deed of Transfer has been signed, the Deeds Office in which area the property is located will keep a copy and the original is sent to the Conveyancer, who will either send it to you if the full purchase price of the property settled in cash or to your bank for safekeeping in cases where there is mortgage bond registered over the property and the bank keeps the Title Deed as security.
A Title Deed serves as legal documentary proof of ownership in terms/ of the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937. Each property that gets registered at the Deeds Office will have its own separate Title Deed. The Title Deed contains all the details pertaining to a particular property, which include:
The name of the existing owner of the property
A detailed property description which includes the extent or size of the property
The purchase price of the property paid by the existing owner
The names of the previous owners of the property
Details of Bonds registered over the property
Conditions and legal restrictions applicable to the zoning, use and sale of the land.
All real rights registered in respect of the property, such as servitudes or a bond registered over the property.
For more information about the Deed of Transfer or any other matters related to property law, please feel free to contact us.
We are here to help you get that Title Deed!
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