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Your turn: Water is a public resource, not private property
The Union Leader - USA
Who owns the air we breathe? Who owns the sunshine that sustains life on earth? These are fluid resources and cannot be owned by individuals, as opposed to land, buildings, machinery, etc., which can be, and are. But what about water? It's fluid and is necessary to all of us.
The Union Leader

Tread the servitude minefield carefully
Business Report - South Africa
If you do not insist on seeing a copy of the title deeds and surveyor-general's diagram when buying vacant land, your plans to build that dream home could become a nightmare.

Both documents will tell you if there is a servitude on the property. The presence of a servitude makes it impossible to build within its area.
Business Report

SA, Zimbabwe warned to hasten land reform
Business Day - South Africa
A global think-tank has warned that if SA and Zimbabwe do not take concrete steps to tackle land reform issues, racial tensions and poverty could rise in the region.
In its latest report, the International Crisis Group sounded the alarm, warning that the consequences of SA not dealing with the problem could potentially hurt southern Africa.
Business Day

Who's land is this? - Information restricted on pre-1974 property ownership in north
Cyprus Mail - Cyprus
It is now virtually impossible for potential house-buyers to obtain information on the original owners of properties in the Turkish Cypriot north, according to prominent Turkish Cypriot lawyer Talat Kurshat.

"In the past, you could ask the land registry office to run a search on the property in question that would tell you whether it was originally Greek or Turkish Cypriot-owned. "But around three months ago we asked for a search on behalf of one of our clients and were told pre-1974 data on property had been banned," Kurshat told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
Cyprus Mail

Supreme Court to rule on "land for tax" case
Financial Times - UK
The US Supreme Court agreed yesterday to decide whether local governments may take land away from homeowners and give it to private developers, just because the latter promise more taxes and jobs.
The case, which will be closely watched by the business community in the US, involves a group of working-class Connecticut homeowners who are refusing to sell their homes to make room for a hotel, luxury condominiums and office buildings linked to a research facility for Pfizer, the drug company.
Financial Times

"SA land problem 10 times worse than Zim"
Daily Dispatch - South Africa
The issue of land in South Africa and the problems surrounding it are 10 times greater than those of Zimbabwe.

This is according to SACP secretary-general Dr Blade Nzimande, who delivered the inaugural Joe Slovo Memorial Lecture at the University of Fort Hare in October. Nzimande said that in the party's "Red October campaign" that was launched yesterday, people would be mobilised to "go into the streets to demand land".
Daily Dispatch

New mortgage rules aim to protect
Ic Newcastle - UK
Sweeping new rules on the way mortgages are sold come into force at the end of this month. Jane Hall reports on what the new code, right, means for borrowers. It seems that barely a week goes by without a financial scandal hitting the headlines.
Ic Newcastle

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