Infrastructure
(a) How has his Department’s Title Deed Programme improved the number of title deeds handed over compared to previous years, (b) what are the actual figures showing the increase in title deeds delivered in the period 2021 to 2024, (c)(i) how are title deeds for new housing projects being managed, especially following the successful “one-day title deed” initiative in George Metrogrounds and (ii) what is the number of title deeds handed over through this initiative and (iii) in which timelines was this achieved, (d)(i) what measures are being taken to clear the backlog of title deeds, (ii) how many outstanding title deeds remain and (iii) what is the statistics on progress made in reducing the backlog?
- The Department facilitated the delivery of 6 515 title deeds against a target of 2 900. This achievement was realised because of improved efficiencies and processes. The Department will continue to improve its systems to ensure that current beneficiaries receive their title deeds timeously and the challenges encountered in addressing the backlog are dealt with expeditiously. Municipalities are responsible for handing over these title deeds to the beneficiaries.
- Please refer to the table below:
Delivery 2021/2022 | Delivery 2022/2023 | Delivery 2023/2024 | Delivery 2024/2025 |
8164 | 3727 | 5007 | 6515 |
- (i)(ii) Subsidy applications are submitted for beneficiaries that comply with the qualification criteria. Once a subsidy approval is granted, the sale process commences. A Deed of Sale is drafted and signed by all parties. Once signed, it is submitted to the conveyancing attorney for registration. The conveyancing attorney then lodges same for registration at the Deeds Office. A provision is made in the Deed of Sale that stipulates that if transfer occurs prior to the date of handover, that the beneficiary will only be billed from the date of handover and not date of registration. To date, 270 transfers have occurred, and 230 physical title deeds received from these transfers. From the 230, 112 have been issued to beneficiaries upon handover of their units, and the balance is with the municipality and will be handed over as the units become ready. This process typically takes 3-6 months.
- (i) The Department is currently conducting a series of strategic planning sessions with Municipalities to unpack and study the nature of their backlog. The findings from these planning sessions will assist Municipalities to improve title deed delivery plans for the eradication of the backlog over the next 5 years. The Department also onboarded a data analyst to facilitate the reconciling of housing subsidy system with deeds reports to ensure that quality information is at the disposal of the Municipality.
(ii) The estimated backlog for the financial year ending 2024/2025 is 34 655
(iii) The backlog as of the financial year 2016/2017 was estimated at 73 037. Considering the current estimated backlog, the percentage reduction is thus 47%.
