Pretoria Registrar's Circular 20/2015

Pretoria Registrar’s Circular No 20 of 2015

References to documents and notes on the cover of a deed

1. Purpose
To prevent the removal or addition of documents in the cover of deeds after examination.

2. Background
Concern was raised that the Deeds Office does not have adequate controls to stop conveyancers from adding documents into the cover of lodged deeds or removing documents from the cover after the deeds were examined.

3. Status Quo
Notice to Examiners dated 14/10/2011 is hereby confirmed which reads as follows: “Examiners are requested to raise their notes on the inside cover at the back of the deed. Note sheets must only be utilized when there is no more space on the inside cover or lodgement in a yellow cover."

4. Recommendation
Examiners must on the front of the lodgement cover of the deed indicate the number of documents lodged in the deed in order to prevent additional documents being inserted or removed at a later stage as well as the number of notes raised. The note sheet must be indicated as +1 (to identify that a note sheet was part of the documents), eg a deed which consisted of a Power of Attorney (Document 1), A Transfer Duty Receipt (Document 2), a Clearance Certificate (Document 3), Printout for the owner (Document 4), Printout for the property (Document 5) and a Note Sheet (Document 6), must be reflected on the cover of the deed as: DOCUMENTS 1 - 5 + 6.

Documents to be lodged after examination e.g. Corrective maintenance application (Document 7), Deed of Substitution (Document 8), etc., must be initialed and linked after the note sheet by the person giving consent or verifying the document. This must be reflected on the cover of the deed as: DOCUMENTS 1 - 5 + 6 - 7 - 8.

5. Endorsement
The status quo in the Notice dated 14/10/2011 is thus confirmed and an endorsement will be handed to examiners to be inserted on the front of the lodgement cover which will look as follows:

This circular will come into operation with immediate effect.

Pretoria Registrar's Circular No 20 of 2015