Deeds and Property Related Articles

Municipal value, agent appraisal, bank valuation and data-driven estimates measure different things. What each one is for and how to get a defensible number.

Foreign nationals can buy and own property in South Africa with very few restrictions — the right to own property is not limited to citizens or residents.

A South African Title Deed is the legal document that records ownership of a specific property and the conditions attached to it.

A servitude is a registered right that one party holds over another's property — for example, the right to drive across a neighbour's land to access your own, or the right of an…

In South Africa, mineral rights have been vested in the state since the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA) came into force in 2004.

When a property owner dies in South Africa, the property doesn't automatically transfer to the heirs — it must go through the deceased estate process.

An Antenuptial Contract — usually shortened to ANC — is a legal contract signed before marriage that sets out the matrimonial property regime that will govern your marriage in…

In South Africa, full title means you own the land and everything built on it — your name appears on the Title Deed for a specific erf with defined boundaries.

To check if a property has a registered bond in South Africa, run a Deeds Office property search.

If you've lost your original Title Deed in South Africa, what you do depends on why you need it.

To verify who owns a property in South Africa, you query the Deeds Office — either by visiting one of the 11 Deeds Offices in person, using the government's DeedsWEB portal, or…

Deeds Office records contain everything you need to assess a property — and almost none of it in language a normal buyer can act on.

You can find out almost everything of legal substance about any property in South Africa — who owns it, what they paid, what is bonded against it, and what conditions bind it —…

A free valuation from an estate agent is a useful starting point, but it is not an independent valuation — and treating it as one is how sellers under-price and buyers over-pay.

Asking price, municipal value, and market value are three different numbers, and confusing them costs people money on both sides of a sale.

“Owning” a home in South Africa can mean several different things in law, and the difference affects what you can do with the property, what you pay, and how ownership is proven.

By the time most buyers see a Title Deed, they have already signed the offer to purchase. That is the wrong order.

A property transaction in South Africa runs on a fixed legal track.

A Deeds Office property search report answers four questions about a property: who owns it, what they paid for it, what is owed against it, and what conditions bind it.

A property sale in South Africa is not final when the contract is signed or even when the money changes hands. It is final when the transfer is registered at the Deeds Office.

Every registered property in South Africa has a paper trail, and that trail leads to a Deeds Office.