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Jo'burg evictions in breach of law, court told
Mail & Guardian
The Johannesburg municipality's evictions of people from derelict buildings should be declared in breach of the law, the Constitutional Court was told on Tuesday.

The municipality should also be told to fix up its problems, submitted lawyer Geoff Budlender for the Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions, a Swiss-based NGO appearing as amicus curiae (friend of the court).

A group of people threatened with eviction have approached the highest court in the land to challenge an earlier victory for the municipality in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Mail & Guardian

Land claimants warned to get papers in
The Herald
The Commission on the Restitution of Land Rights has called on claimants in the southern Cape and Karoo who submitted applications before December 1998 to supply outstanding documents to the regional office in George.

The documents include copies of claimants' IDs, relevant death or marriage certificates, title deeds and power of attorney documents.

Other documents still outstanding on some claims include erf registration accounts, wills, background statements and contact details.

In addition, claimants who had not yet collected their compensation were asked to do so before March next year.

The commission has settled 74,417 claims countrywide out of 79,696 lodged, costing more than R10,7-billion. Spokesperson Franz Zottle said that, of the 17,000 claims lodged in the Western Cape, 15,499 had been settled at a cost of more than R720-million.
The Herald

"South Africa set to follow international worst practice" - Rode
Rode's Property Report - South Africa
A report presented recently to Cabinet on the development of policy on foreign land ownership is sure to draw much public debate, once it is updated with international comparatives and thrown open for comment.
Following the recent, long-awaited presentation to Cabinet of a report on the development of policy on foreign land ownership, Cabinet has now called for a comparative analysis of policy in other countries to be included in the report before it is submitted for wider public debate.

Ranging from recommendations dealing with a total moratorium on the sale of all land to foreigners, to the more tempered suggestions that special ministerial approval be sought in cases where certain categories of land are considered for disposal, the report - when it goes public for debate - will include "examples of international best practice", according to government spokesperson Themba Maseko.
Rode's Property Report

CML urges government to look at e-conveyancing
Mortgagestrategy.co.uk - UK
The Council of Mortgage Lenders says the government has underestimated the potential for e-conveyancing to speed up the house buying process.

It has also slammed the government for imposing Home Information Packs on three-bedroomed homes before fully assessing the impact of the first phase of HIPs.

It says mortgage regulation has brought benefits for consumers and to get rid of it now would only cause confusion.
Mortgagestrategy.co.uk