Chief Registrar's Circular 8/2014

LODGEMENT OF RATES CLEARANCE CERTIFICATES AND WITHDRAWAL OF CHIEF REGISTRAR’S CIRCULAR NO. 5 OF 2014

1. PURPOSE OF THE CIRCULAR

1.1 Several municipalities that are issuing rates clearance certificates manually, are not currently in a position to issue certificates that comply with the format in Annexure A to Chief Registrar’s Circular 5 of 2014, or the format as prescribed in the Regulations to the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2000).

1.2 In order to accommodate the problems experienced by municipalities and to avoid the rejection of deeds country wide, Chief Registrar’s Circular 5 of 2014 is hereby withdrawn and substituted with this Circular.

2. BACKGROUND

See Circular

3. ELECTRONICALLY ISSUED RATES CLEARANCE CERTIFICATES

3.1. Pending the amendment of Act 32 of 2000, municipalities will be required to ensure that as from 1 July 2014, all electronically issued certificates contain an advanced electronic signature as contemplated in the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (Act 25 of 2002).

3.2. In the interim, the Office of the Chief Registrar of Deeds, Department of Cooperative Governance, SALGA, and the LSSA, have agreed that a Registrar of Deeds may accept electronically issued rates clearance certificates, if such certificates embody the following certificate by the conveyancer:

“I …………………………. (full name and surname) hereby certify that this is a print-out of a data message in respect of the original clearance certificate electronically issued by the …………………………..municipality (insert name of municipality).”

…………………………………..                                                                 ………………………………

Conveyancer                                                                                                 Date"

• Deeds must not be rejected only because the electronically issued clearance certificate does not contain the above conveyancer’s certificate. A note must be made to the effect that the clearance certificate must be embodied with the above-mentioned conveyancer’s certificate.


• If the electronically issued clearance certificate contains a conveyancer’s certificate to the effect that it is a true copy of a clearance certificate that had been drawn from a website, a note must be raised for such conveyancer’s certificate to be deleted and to be replaced with the above-mentioned certificate.

3.3 The Office of the Chief Registrar of Deeds, Department of Cooperative Governance, SALGA, and the LSSA have also agreed that the prescribed form be amended to include the description of sectional title units / exclusive use areas / cession of real rights. A copy of the proposed amended certificate is attached as ‘Annexure A’ and must be followed in respect of electronically issued certificates. It must be noted that although Act 32 of 2000 does not allow for a deviation from the prescribed certificate unless the regulation is amended, this interim measure will ensure that the property market continues to function and that the transfer of sectional title units/exclusive use areas/real rights is not delayed until the amendment has been affected. However, a rates clearance certificate that follows the format as prescribed by the Regulations to Act 32 of 2000, and not that of Annexure A, must not be rejected.

4. MANUALLY ISSUED RATES CLEARANCE CERTIFICATES

4.1. The Office of the Chief Registrar of Deeds, Department of Cooperative Governance and SALGA, have come to an agreement that manually issued rates clearance certificates that do not comply to the prescribed form in the Regulations to Act 32 of 2000, or to Annexure A, may also be accepted for registration purposes.

4.2. A manually issued rates clearance must at least make reference to the following:

• the issuing thereof in terms of the provisions of section 118 of Act 32 of 2000;
• by which municipality it has been issued;
• the property description (the property must be identifiable with the property referred to in the transaction it relates to);
• the expiry date; and
• it must be signed and dated by the municipal manager! authorised official.

5. DATES RELATING TO AGREED PROCEDURES IN RESPECT OF ELECTRONICALLY ISSUED RATES CLEARANCE CERTIFICATES

All electronically issued clearance certificates, issued on or after 31 March 2014, must embody the certificate by the conveyancer as referred to in par. 3.2 supra.

All electronically issued clearance certificates, issued on or after 1 April 2014, must conform to the format as contained in Annexure A.

All electronically issued clearance certificates, issued on or after 1 July 2014, must contain an advanced electronic signature as contemplated in the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (Act No. 25 of 2002). However, should the certificate not contain the advanced electronic signature, it must embody the certificate by the conveyancer as referred to in par. 3.2 supra.

Chief Registrar's Circular 8 of 2014 and Annexure A