Consolidations
Key Takeaways:
Consolidations involve merging multiple properties into a single entity for streamlined ownership.
Legal processes, compliance with zoning laws, and financial considerations are pivotal.
Professional guidance from a conveyancer ensures a seamless consolidation, maximizing efficiency and compliance.
Conveyancing relates to the legal process that transfers ownership of the home from the seller to the buyer. The conveyancer (who is an attorney) is usually appointed by the seller, but paid for by the buyer (the fact that the fees are normally covered by the buyer is simply a rule of thumb.
It’s not something that is necessarily set in stone and a different arrangement can be negotiated in your agreement of sale).
Conveyancing is not only a complicated process, but a time consuming one as well. Particularly in transactions related to the subdivision or consolidation of properties, the registration of servitudes or transfers of both divorce or deceased estates. Benaters are specialists in the field of property and conveyancing and are perfectly poised to assist their clients with all matters of property transfers. Get in touch with them today to see how they can assist you.
What does the transfer of property entail?
Once a seller has accepted an offer to purchase (meaning the transfer process has officially begun), the buyer must produce proof that their bond application has been successful.
Following that, the seller must then appoint a transfer attorney, (who is a conveyancing attorney) to handle the transfer process. Transferring attorneys are one of three attorneys who will play an important role in the home buying process. This team of attorneys includes
a) the transfer attorney, or the conveyancer who is responsible for registering the property in the new owner’s name,
b) b) the bond attorney (appointed by the bank) who is responsible for registering the bond in the home buyer’s name, and
c) the cancellation attorney (appointed by the bank) who is responsible for attending to the existing bond cancellation.
Once the transfer duty has been paid, all documents have been lodged at the Deeds Office and the transfer attorney has finalised their accounts and paid over all proceeds to the seller, commission to the agent and refunded any credit that is due to the seller (within 12 months), registration of the property (meaning the purchaser is now the new rightful owner of the home) should then occur.
What does a Conveyancer do?
Firstly, it must be noted that no property sale or transfer can be concluded without having a qualified conveyancer on board.
A conveyancer is a lawyer that has passed an additional conveyancing qualification exam and is a specialist in the field of property and conveyancing. They perform a vital function where completing a property transaction is concerned.
Conveyancers attend to the process of transferring legal ownership of fixed property from one person (or a company or trust) to another. In a nutshell, this process amongst other things, involves ensuring the deed of sale meets all the legal requirements, including requesting and collecting supporting information (such the mortgage bond, cancellation figures, title deeds from the seller’s bank, compliance certificates from the seller, and the amounts from the municipality for a rates clearance certificate).
The conveyancer is also tasked with drafting all the necessary documentation (such as a “power of attorney to pass transfer” for the seller to sign, a declaration in respect of marital status, ID Number as well as the bond registration documentation for the purchaser when registering the bond) that needs to be lodged with the deeds office to finalise the registration of the sale.
What is a Consolidation of Property?
The consolidation of property means exactly what it sounds like - the combining, merging or joining together of two or more properties that border one another. Sometimes out of choice and sometimes the owner of immovable property is compelled to. The separated properties, in essence, become one by the process of consolidation (which is a type of property transfer).
But why?
When there are two or more bordering pieces of land, which are owned by the same person or two or more persons (in the same undivided shares in each piece of land), reasons may exist (such as for agricultural purposes, for the creation of a large conservancy by combining several farms, for the development of a residential estate or perhaps an industrial or office park on two or more pieces of land etc.) – and with these reasons as motivators, it makes perfect sense to consolidate two separate pieces of land into one joined piece of land instead.
Note: The properties should all be registered in the name of one person or a company. A consolidation application cannot be approved when the properties are registered in different entities.
Here, the owner(s) must apply to the Registrar of Deeds to be issued with a Certificate of Consolidated Title in terms of Section 40 of the Deeds Registries Act, No 47 of 1937 (‘the DRA’).
Note: It is important however to take note of the following prerequisites that need to be met before an owner can opt for consolidation –
land portions should be owned by the same person or two or more persons in the same undivided shares;
the land portions should be adjacent to each other, and
the land portions must be in the same registration division of the same Township.
The type of land is important
It is important to note that depending on what type of land is being consolidated different authorities may need to be approached.
If the application is for a piece of land in an urban area, the town planner will submit an application to the local authority or municipality.
Note: The municipality will only consider a consolidation application favourably if the application is in line with the development policies and urban planning goals for the city. The application should also not negatively affect communities or surrounding property owners.
If the land consolidation is related to property outside an urban area (i.e. agricultural or farm land), the application may need to be made to the South African Heritage Resource Agency for structures older than 50 years. The application can also be submitted to the provincial government if a title deed restriction applies.
You may furthermore need to make an application to one of the nature conservation authorities.
If it is a rural application for land consolidation or subdivision, you will have to apply to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, and the local authority.
How is a Consolidation of Property done?
Prior consent should have been obtained through the town planner from the relevant local authority or municipality.
Once the consolidation application has been approved by the local authority or municipality, the actual survey of the consolidated property has to be done by a registered Land Surveyor. The Land Surveyors that are appointed should be registered with the South African Geomatics Council (previously known as the South African Council for Professional and Technical Surveyors).
The Land Surveyor will then need to complete an accurate diagram based on the cadastral survey and submit the (required) diagram (which must be prepared according to the portions of land that are to be consolidated into a single unit of land) to the Surveyor-General’s Office, for approval.
Once the diagram is approved, a specialist conveyancing attorney is instructed to assist with the registering of the title deed (which is subject to the consolidated property). This is done through a Certificate of Consolidated Title.
For more detailed information on the process of consolidation, please refer to our article How to Consolidate Your Property.
Why you should hire a Conveyancer during a Consolidation of Property?
There are so many considerations to take into account when considering Consolidating properties. It is a very complicated process. Especially when taking into account which authorities to make an application to, how to go about consolidating your land and which land surveyors to use, the extent a component or components of consolidated land are subject to existing conditions or entitled to existing rights created or imposed on a smaller land unit which now forms part of the consolidated land (especially when servitudes come into the picture) – it is a lot to take in and if you are not 100% sure of what you are doing, applying for a Consolidation may not be a fruitful exercise for you.
It is, therefore, crucial to involve a qualified Conveyancer in the whole process (from the very beginning) in order to establish which procedures to follow. They will be able to guide and advise you properly and ensure that the whole process proceeds smoothly and without unnecessary hitches.
What is required for a successful Consolidation?
The documents for lodgment and registration at the Deeds Office will include –
the application for a certificate of consolidated title;
the draft certificate of consolidated title;
the relevant title deeds, and
the approved consolidation diagrams.
Note: If a bond is registered over the properties being consolidated, the bond-holder (i.e. bank) will have to consent to the consolidation. Should there however be different bonds, a problem may arise, causing the application to fail. To rectify this failure, a new bond will need to be registered over the consolidated property, and the process will then begin anew.
Why should you trust Benaters to handle your Property Consolidation?
We have successfully assisted with the consolidations of many portions of land across South-Africa. We are therefore well versed in the entire process from the application stage (requiring the issue of a certificate of consolidated title in terms of Section 40 of the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937) to assistance when applying to local municipalities, provincial governments, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, and the local authority. Wherever you are in the process, we have got you covered.
Also, we are proud to be able to offer Conveyancing, a specialised niche service to you, our clients. We take our duties as Conveyancers very seriously (always keeping in mind the impact a property transfer can have on an individual or family) and therefore hold our work to very high standards. You can trust us with your property, because we treat the entire process as if we were going through it ourselves.
We are here to help you. In any way we can! So please, get in touch and let us handle your property transfer in the best way we know how – professionally and with the utmost due care.