The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has back-tracked on the planned indefinite closure of the Pretoria Deeds Office, which resulted in potential legal action to compel the deeds office to resume its services.

The department said in a statement issued on Thursday that the Pretoria Deeds Office will be closed for business until 16 April 2023 due to the relocation of operations to its new offices and operations will resume on 17 April 2023 at the new premises located at Berea Park.

Read: Bigger rate hike brings more gloom for home and vehicle owners

“Deeds management wish to apologise for the inaccurate communication that went out yesterday.

“We therefore appeal to our clients to bear with us. Other deeds offices across the country remain open,” it said.

The Pretoria Attorneys Association (PAA) held a meeting on Thursday to take a decision on possible legal action related to the indefinite closure of the office.

Donald Mokgehle, the chairperson of the Pretoria Attorneys Association (PAA) property committee, agreed after the meeting that it was a futile exercise because the department had changed its mind about the indefinite closure of the deeds office.

But Mokgehle told Moneyweb that the PAA is still concerned because “it seems that the department can change its mind whenever it wants to”.

Read:
The impact of higher interest rates
Sarb hikes repo rate by 50bps
Gen Zs and the property market

“Now they are saying operations will resume on 17 April 2023, which was the initial arrangement.

“So we just have to keep an eye out and make sure that they do what they have set out to do and there are no surprises on 17 April 2023,” added Mokgehle.

He said he had absolutely no idea why the department changed its mind about the indefinite closure of the deeds office.

“It seems like the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing,” he said.

Read:
Sars takes R60bn load shedding hit
Tshwane taking steps to tighten controls, following AG report – speaker
Delayed payment of Vat refunds continues to frustrate taxpayers

Deadline set

The PAA wrote a letter to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Director-General Mooketsa Ramasodi on Wednesday giving the department until 10am on Thursday to communicate with it on the closure of the deeds office or face legal action.

The department previously advised conveyancers that the Pretoria Deeds Office would be closed from 5 April 2023 until 14 April 2023, with the lodgement of deeds scheduled to resume on 17 April 2023.

Donald Mokgehle, the chairperson of the Pretoria Attorneys Association (PAA) property committee, said earlier on Thursday: “All along, we were under the impression that the move would start today [6 April 2023] and then out of nowhere we received a notice yesterday from the Registrar of Deeds advising that the Deeds Office will be closed indefinitely from today until further notice.”

In the dark

“So we are all in the dark,” he said before the latest notice was issued.

Mokgehle said the PAA had sent a letter to the Director-General of the Department of Agriculture and Land Reform yesterday asking for further particulars and details about the reason for the closure of the deeds office and when the services will resume.

“We gave the Director-General until 10am this [Thursday] morning to reply to our letter because of the urgency and seriousness of this matter,” added Mokgehle.

He said that if the PAA did not get a response from the department by this time or it received an unsatisfactory response, it would have to discuss the matter and “the steps to be taken forward”.

Court action?

“We will probably have to brief a law firm or an attorney specialising in these types of matters to maybe get an urgent court application to compel the resumption of services,” he said at the time.

Mokgehle confirmed that the Pretoria Deeds Office is one of the biggest deeds offices in the country and it “easily registers property transactions weekly valued at millions of rand”.

He said the indefinite closure of the Pretoria Deeds Office would have had a knock-on effect on the collection of revenue by the SA Revenue Services, especially the Value Added Tax (Vat) component of property transactions.

Mokgehle said it would not impact on the payment of property transaction transfer duties, which are payable before registration of the transaction at the deeds office.  However, the indefinite closure would have disrupted and delayed the registration of property transactions and impact on people who have bought houses, particularly the planned date of their occupation of their new homes and their liability to pay occupational rental until the registration of the transaction has been completed.

Monthly meetings

In the letter sent to the Director-General by PAA chairperson Tiaan Joubert, a copy of which is in Moneyweb’s possession, said the PAA holds monthly meetings with the management of the Pretoria Deeds Office to discuss matters affecting its members and their clients, and to ensure the efficient operation of the deeds registration services.

The PAA said the relocation of the Pretoria Deeds Office had been raised and discussed at its monthly meetings with the Management of the Pretoria Deeds Office and members were under the impression the relocation would take place from 6 April 2023 until 14 April 2023.

Listen/Read:
Podcast: How Alleyroads is cornering the affordable housing market
‘We are currently experiencing a longer-term correction for property’