ProBono.Org hosting housing day workshop
Educating people on how to protect themselves in law from the pitfalls of relying on family homes for permanent housing security.
JOHANNESBURG – The South African housing and property law is complex. It is a combination of apartheid-era laws and policies, and their effects and post-apartheid progressive attempts to recognise and protect the housing rights of poor people.
One area where the law has not caught up with people’s practices in the area of “family homes”. There is no provision made in law for registration of a family title in the Deeds Office, and yet people particularly in townships and rural areas rely on the family home for security of tenure.
Hundreds of thousands of people are in a position where the issue of the family home affects them. Whether the law should change to accommodate people’s practices is a separate question, which requires long-term efforts to address.
In the short term, we can educate people on how to protect themselves in law from the pitfalls of relying on “family homes” for permanent housing security.
ProBono.Org’s Housing Day event presents a unique opportunity to educate people on property ownership, and the many assumptions that we often make when it comes to family homes and the rights occupants of these homes have:
“We will discuss the devastating cases of eviction and dispossession involving family homes in order to illustrate the dangers of a family home. We will then explain to people how best to protect themselves using the existing legal framework, including through the drafting of wills.”
Five things you might not have known about property ownership in South Africa:
1. Properties still owned by the City of Johannesburg and have not yet been transferred, can be transferred to legitimate beneficiaries by the department at no charge.
2. Anyone can acquire ownership of a property after proving 30 years of undisturbed, uninterrupted and peaceful occupancy.
3. An RDP house may not be sold by the beneficiary within the first eight years of receiving the house.
4. The average selling price of a township home (RDP house) was about R60 000 in 2006 and is now about R80 000.
5. When purchasing a property or transferring a property, applications for interim finance to assist with paying outstanding rates amounts can be made from the banks.
If you would like more information about these issues, or feedback from the outcomes of the event, please contact Carien Els at carien@theprincipality.co.za
