My dad passed away. How do I change the title deed of his house to my name?

The long answer

Thank you for your email asking what you need to do to transfer your late father’s RDP house to your name.

We presume that your father left a will saying that you should inherit the house from him upon his death. The transfer of the title deeds is done by a lawyer called a conveyancing attorney, who will see to it that the Deeds Registrar signs the title deed in your name and a copy will be kept in the Deeds Office.

Documents that you would probably need would include the title deed, your father’s will, his ID number and death certificate, plus a copy of your own ID.

The conveyancing attorney will charge a fee, which can be as much as R7,680, for all the paperwork that must be done to transfer the title deeds to you. It may be worth asking your municipal office if they can assist you to get it done more economically. They may also have the names of conveyancing attorneys that you can contact.

The Human Settlements Department wants to keep RDP houses in the family, so if your father did not leave a will, the municipal office will have a list of all the dependants that he listed, and will see to it that his dependants can stay on in the house until they can get houses of their own.