Deeds Office Cape Town Year End Arrangements: December 2014 to January 2015
The schedule in the link below sets out changes to the normal operations in the various sections
Unless otherwise stated herein, sections will operate normally
- All arrangements remain subject to change
- Last day for registration is 23 Dec 2014.
- Average turn-around in December is usually 10 working days.
Cape Town Deeds Office Year End 2014 Arrangements
What makes a good conveyancer in the 21st Century?
Letting Agent Today - UK
With this week’s stamp duty reforms that saw big deals pushed through at the last minute as well as the announcement of the best practice guide for conveyancers from the Conveyancing Association, now seemed like the perfect time to explore what it is that makes a good conveyancer in the modern market.
Many conveyancers would assume that estate agents would answer this question by saying, “one that can achieve a quick exchange without asking many, if any, questions and one that pays us on time.”
However, the conveyancer’s responses are much more detailed:
“One that is approachable; understands the law and risks involved; can remember what their role is i.e. to protect their client and act in their best interest; can offer and deliver a quality service as standard.
Letting Agent Today
Sectional title: Pitfalls for tenants to avoid
Chas Everitt - South Africa
Lots of tenants relocate at this time of year, but before they sign the lease for their next sectional title apartment or townhouse, they need to take a few precautions.
For a start, says Berry Everitt, MD of the Chas Everitt International property group, they need to make sure that the financial position of the scheme is sound and that it is well-managed, because if the owners have been lax about paying or collecting the levies and the body corporate is short of money, the maintenance of the building or complex will inevitably suffer, and they could shortly find themselves living in run-down surroundings.
“In addition, if it turns out that their landlord is one of the owners who are in default on levies, the unit they are renting could well be attached and sold in execution to pay for the arrears, leaving them in a very uncertain position.”
Secondly, he says, sectional title tenants also need to be very clear about what their monthly rental covers and if or how any increase in levies might affect them.
Pitfalls to avoid
Are e-mail lease changes valid?
IolProperty - South Africa
If parties were to conclude a lease contract or to change a lease term electronically, eg by communicating via e-mail, is the lease or the change valid?
What if a clause in a lease stipulates that no change to the contract is valid and binding unless parties mutually agree to it, and such agreement must be reduced to writing and signed by the parties?
This means that in terms of such a "non-variation" contractual clause, any information or discussion outside the agreement is not binding unless it is written down and signed by both parties.
A tenant informs the landlord's letting agent that she can no longer pay her rentals on the 1st day of the month and all future payments will be done on the 5th.
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House price indices
Absa - South Africa
Further slowdown in middle-segment house price growth
Year-on-year growth in the nominal value of middle-segment homes in the South African residential property market slowed down further in November 2014 against the background of a continuing declining trend in month-on-month price growth since early this year. In real terms, i.e. after adjustment for the effect of consumer price inflation, year-on-year house price growth was in positive territory, but remained relatively low in the ten months up to October on the back of inflation averaging 6,2% year-on-year (y/y) over this period. These price trends are according to the Absa house price indices, which are based on applications for mortgage finance received and approved by the bank in respect of middle-segment small, medium-sized and large homes (see explanatory notes). The average nominal value of homes in each of the middle-segment categories was as follows in November 2014:
- Small homes (80m²-140m²): R852 000
- Medium-sized homes (141m²-220 m²): R1 191 000
- Large homes (221m²-400m²): R1 814 000
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