It is now even more important than before that you make sure that the Deed of Transfer of your property is kept in a safe place.

If you sell your house or register a mortgage bond the original of the Deed of Transfer is needed for the transfer process. If there is already a mortgage bond on the property, the documents are kept by the Bank.

We are inundated with circumstances where the owners have lost their title deeds. The process to apply for a certified lost copy was, although with a cost implication, fairly simple. Unfortunately, like many other procedures the existing procedure was also hi jacked by the crooks who forged signatures and applied for certified lost copies and transferred properties fraudulently.

In order to limit these illegal operations, the regulations for the application of a certified lost copy has now been changed. From 24 February 2019 the affidavit that accompanies the application to the Registrar of Deeds must be attested by a Notary Public and notification of the intention to apply for a lost copy must be published in the Government Gazette and be open for inspection at the deeds registry for two weeks.

This new procedure will result in increased costs and time delays. If you are aware that your title deed is lost or damaged, we suggest that you make contact with a conveyancer as soon as possible so that application for a certified lost copy can be done before the procedure changes.

The Chief Registrar of Deeds has today - 21/02/2019 - given notice that the new application procedure to apply for lost deeds, which would have come into operation on 25 February 2019, is suspended until further notice.