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Jo'burg to cut development red tape
Business Day - South Africa
Johannesburg, which has come under increasing pressure from disgruntled property developers to improve its turnaround time for building and rezoning applications, plans to approve 60% of building applications within 24 hours.

Some developers say they are kept waiting for up to four years for rezoning or township development approval, prompting legal action by developers desperate to speed up the approval process.

City of Johannesburg planning chief for urban development Prof Philip Harrison said yesterday that from September a new customer service centre, the Metro Link Centre, would make it possible to process two-thirds of building applications in 24 hours. Up to 70% of plans could be approved within 28 days.
Business Day

Beware bond cancellation fees
RodneyHayter.com - South Africa
Unless bond-holders gives the lender 90 days written warning of their intention to cancel their bonds - usually as a result of paying up the debt - they are forced to pay substantial mandatory fees, warns Tony Clarke, MD of Rawson Properties.
RodneyHayter.com

Govt wants land titles to get registered
The Economic Times - India
NEW DELHI: You may be saved from the peril of buying disputed property, if the government has its way. The urban development ministry plans to emphasise on registration of titles and encourage state governments to maintain an updated database on ownership of land.

Many land deals fail due to unclear ownership title. There are no records of privately-owned land in most cases in places like Delhi and Haryana, including land transferred from leasehold to freehold.
The Economic Times

Gautrain triggers a frenzy
Financial Mail - South Africa
"That's another call for space in Rosebank," says Andrew Bradford of property brokers Bradford McCormack, as he puts down the phone. "They want 16 000 m². They have to be here because of Gautrain."

A storm of demand has followed a year's calm after Gautrain started. "Developers have suddenly realised it's going to happen and they want a piece of it," says Bradford. "It goes on all day, every day." Prices of strategic properties are breaking all records.

Development land in prime CBDs such as Sandton, Melrose Arch and Cape Town's Claremont is running at about R3 000 to R5 000 for every square metre of lettable space that can be built on it - called the bulk price.
Financial Mail

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