Registrar's Circulars

Chief Registrar's Circular 05/2019

DEEDS REGISTRIES ACT, 1937 (ACT NO. 47 OF 1937) AMENDMENT OF REGULATIONS

1. COMMENCEMENT OF AMENDED REGULATIONS
The amended regulations, published under Government Notice No. R. 1418 in Government Gazette No. 42813 dated 1 November 2019, shall be effective two months from date of publication thereof. From a practical implementation point the amended provisions must therefore be complied with from 2 January 2020.

2. NATURE AND/OR IMPACT OF THE AMENDMENTS
2.1. Amendment of regulation 68:

2.1.1 The proviso to regulation 68(1) now provides that if the Registrar is satisfied that any deed mentioned therein, namely in sub-regulation (1), has inadvertently been lost, destroyed, defaced or damaged by him/her, it will be competent for him/her to issue a copy thereof without the need to comply with sub-regulation (1E). It will thus not be necessary to advertise in newspapers a notification of intention to apply for such copies in those instances.

2.1.2 Regulation 68(1E)(a) now provides that certified copies of deeds referred to in sub-regulation (1) may not be issued unless the applicant has published, substantially in the prescribed form, a notice of intention to apply for such certified copies in an issue of a newspaper circulating in the area in which the land is situated, and in the case of a notarial bond in an issue of one or more newspapers circulating in the area of every deeds registry in which such notarial bond is registered.

The implication of the above is that apart from the written application and affidavit contemplated by sub-regulation (1), proof of compliance with sub regulation (1E) must also be submitted.

Seeing that the practical implementation of the amended provisions must be complied with from 2 January 2020, no certified copy of a deed may be issued from that date without proof of publication of the prescribed notice.

In terms of paragraph (b) of sub-regulation (1E), copies of deeds referred to in paragraph (a) must be open for inspection in the deeds registry free of charge by any interested person for a period of two weeks from the date of publication of the notice, during which period any interested person may object to the issue of a copy. It stands to reason that an application for a certified copy in terms of sub regulation (1) of regulation 68 can therefore not be lodged at a deeds registry within two weeks from the date of publication of the notice.

2.1.3 Sub-regulation (11) has been amended to do away with the requirement of advertising as was required in terms of the amendment thereof vide Government Notice GN 62 dated 25 January 2019, the operation of which was suspended by the Regulation Board and conveyed to Registrars and others vide CRC 1/2019.

2.2. Amendment of Regulation 79bis:
The above regulation has been amended to make it a requirement for Registrars to now also inform the Surveyor-General of the registration of general plans.

2.3. Substitution of Forms JJJ and KKK:
The amended (substituted) Forms JJJ and KKK are consequential to the amendment of regulation 68. Form JJJ must be used for all deeds provided for in regulation 68(1), excluding mortgage bonds, whilst form KKK may only be used for bonds.

2. REPEAL OF PRIOR CHIEF REGISTRAR'S CIRCULAR
CRC 1/2019 is hereby repealed.

Chief Registrar's Circular No 5 of 2019

Reader Comments:

Monica du Toit 12/12/2019:

What proof/supporting documents will be required for a statement from owner that a deed has "inadvertently been lost, destroyed, defaced or damaged by him/her"? I have a client who never received her deed from the conveyancer, and his office is closed. Will that suffice so that the Registrar will waive the advertisement?

Alec Leicher 12/12/2019:

Monica, the waiving of the advert is only if the Registrar is satisfied that the document was lost/damaged/etc by him/her. This refers to a document lost or damaged in the deeds office and not in your situation where the document was delivered to the conveyancer who dealt with it and then has gone missing. You will unfortunately have to advertise. The bonus is that as opposed to the previous scenario of having to advertise in a Gazette, you now only need to advertise in a local paper and you can lodge after 2 weeks have elapsed. At this point it is taking longer than that to get clearance figures out of the local authorities.

Cecile Botes 13/12/2019:

Am I correct in stating that where a bond deed is lost but will be cancelled simultaneously in terms of regulation 68(11), no advertisement is necessary?

Allen West 17/12/2019:

Hi Cecile, no advertisement is required for a Regulation 68(11) cancellation. Please note that for a CRT in terms of section 34(2) the advertisement will be required.

Julia Ward 18/12/2019:

I have a transaction where the Reg 68(1) was signed by client on the 18th November 2019 and the VA has been issued, but not registered as we needed to lodge simultaneously with transfer. As luck would have it, tenant issues and as such transfer has been delayed until mid January 2020 when tenant vacates. So my question - do I have to advertise for a VA to be issued since the Reg 68 and issuing by deeds office of the VA all occurred prior to CRC5/2019? I have to lodge on 6 January 2020 and Seller in financial straits and RCC lapsing on 19/01/2020 so cant afford a rejection on this. Many thanks.

INDIRA SINGH 01/07/2020:

Form JJJ Does this form have a heading,if so can please advise. what is the heading and what is the reference to Regulation 68(1E)(a) Is the form JJJ called Application in terms of Regulation 68(1E)(a), Please can you assist.Thanks so much for your co-operation Also is the JJJ submitted after the advert has been published and do the documents lie for inspection for another two weeks at the Master.

Leave a comment:

Security Picture (click to change)
Word shown in picture:
advert
menu close

Search Articles