I READ with concern your recent article informing senior citizens they will require a copy of their title deed when applying for a rates rebate.
I have even worse news – for everybody who has a bond or has paid off a bond.
You are not the owner of the property until you have your title deed safely in your hands.
To those whose bonds are paid off – the banks have the title deeds to your property – still registered in the name of the bank.
So they are legally the owners of all those properties you have paid off over so many years.
I believe this is fraud, as we have paid them for the properties yet the title deeds are still registered in their names.
If anyone out there is a legal expert, I would love to know your thoughts on the following:
Can I lay a charge of fraud against the bank?
Can I reclaim from the bank all the rates I have paid since signing the purchase agreement; all the money spent on repairs and upkeep of the property; all the money spent on insurance for the house – and can I get the bank to pay all such future costs until they are willing to let me have title deed for the property which I purchased and have long since paid off?
I refuse to pay an attorney to transfer the deed into my name, as the bank should have informed me at the point when I was negotiating the purchase that I would later have to pay additional exorbitant amounts to do this.
We all believe that we sign the documents; pay off the bond and the house will then be registered in our name.
The cost of the deed transfer should have been built into the bond repayment schedule, and as soon as the bond was paid off the bank should then have forwarded the title deed registered in the name of the purchaser to him. The banks make enough money out of us on the bond as it is.
So approach your bank and find out if you own your paid-off property.
Lone Ranger
Pinetown
