To consolidate or to notarially tie?

To consolidate or to notarially tie?
It often happens that owners of two or more pieces of land want for various reasons to deal with the portions as if they are one property. The options open to the owners of such portions of land are to either notarially tie them or to consolidate the properties in terms of section 40 of the Deeds Registries Act, No 47 of 1937 (‘the DRA’).

When to consolidate
Basically consolidation refers to the joining together of portions of land to become one property. The owner of the portions can apply to the Registrar of Deeds to be issued with a Certificate of Consolidated Title in terms of section 40 of the DRA. It should however be noted that prior consent should have been obtained through the town planner from the relevant local authority. A land surveyor will also have needed to do a survey and drawn a diagram depicting the newly formed property, which diagram must be approved by the Surveyor General.

After such approval a conveyancer can be approached to draft and application and certificate to be submitted to the Registrar of Deeds. It should be noted however that there are prerequisites that need to be met before an owner opts for consolidation. Land portions should be owned by the same person, they should be adjacent to each other, and they must be in the same registration division of the same Township.

When to tie
An owner or owners wishing to notarially tie their properties must enter into a notarial agreement with whoever will be responsible for the enforcement of such notarial tie agreement, in most cases this will be the local authority. Such an agreement will basically say that the properties to be tied shall from the date of registration for all intents and purposes be dealt with as if they are one separate property and that no separate dealings will be permitted. Such an agreement must be registered in the Deeds Registry.

Depending on the circumstances therefore, an owner can choose between the two.

Adv Audrey Gwangwa