What could have happened during the registration process of my uncle’s RDP because unknown people turned up two months ago, claiming that my uncle’s house belonged to their grandparents?

The long answer

Thank you for your email asking firstly what could have happened during the registration process of your uncle’s RDP house to account for some unknown people turning up two months ago, claiming that your uncle’s house belonged to their grandparents, though they had no documentary evidence of this.

Your uncle has been living in the RDP house since he received it after his application to the Department of Housing some ten years ago, up until the present. You checked his ownership on the hssonline domain which confirmed that your uncle was indeed the owner. However, when you went to the Deeds Office, the deeds registry records said that the property belonged to the grandparents of the people who are claiming it from your uncle. Secondly, you want to know what administrative or legal avenues are available for you to pursue.

Your uncle could not have received a title deed for the house from the municipality when he was allocated the house, or this problem could not have arisen. Very often, the title deeds were only given to beneficiaries years after they had been allocated their houses, and there is still a large backlog of title deeds for RDP houses. This seems to have happened because developers were allowed to go ahead with building the houses before they had registered the deeds, and in many cases, they simply didn’t bother to register the deeds, as this represented a small amount of
money compared to the much larger amount for the building work.

This meant that the work of registering the deeds fell to the municipalities to do, and often they didn’t have the budget, the staff or the know how to register all the properties. But perhaps the place to start is with the municipality where your uncle made his application for the RDP house. They will have a file recording his application, his being granted the house and they should also have a ‘happy letter’ which the beneficiary of an RDP house signs when the house is allocated to him or her. You should explain the problem to them and ask for their assistance in solving it. You
could ask them to explain how they liaise with the Deeds Office to get the title deeds, and how it could have happened that the grandparents of the people claiming your uncle’s house are the registered title deed owners. You should also ask the municipality to make copies of all the relevant documents so that you can have them certified. (Remember to keep a note of the date/s and the name/s of the municipal official/s you deal with.)

If you are not satisfied with the way the municipality responds to your query, you can escalate your query to the MEC for Housing in your province. Again, you would need to give certified copies of all the documents to the office of the MEC.

You should also take the information from the municipality to the Deeds office and ask for all the details of how and when the deed for the grandparents was issued to
the grandparents. The function of the Deeds office, which falls under the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, is to keep a public register of land, preserve the records and provide information to the public. After paying an information search fee at the Deeds office, any member of the public is entitled to information relating to a property or deed; information relating to the tracking of a deed through the registration process, as well as a full description of the property and all conditions restricting the use of or sale of the property.

mydeedsearch.co.za says that information that can be obtained from the Deeds Office includes property information including registered bond amount, owner details, last sale date and price, property history, ordering copies of title deed documents and tracking the progress of a property or bond registration. If you are not satisfied with how the Deeds Office is handling your query, it is
possible to ask for the Client Relations Officer or the Deeds Office Manager and lodge a complaint.

You may also need to get legal advice on how to proceed. You (and/or your uncle) could approach Legal Aid, which is a means-tested organisation that must assist people whose income falls below a certain level. Depending on what they establish in your uncle’s case, they could ask the High Court to issue a court order confirming that your uncle is indeed the owner of the house.

These are their contact details:
0800 110 110 (Monday to Friday 7AM - 7PM) 
079 835 7179 (Please Call Me) communications2@legal-aid.co.za

Wishing you the best,
Athalie