From the news desk

Be wary of illegal RDP home sales: City

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The Illegal sale of RDP homes are becoming more commonplace, prompting the City of Cape Town to issue a warning to potential buyers against acting outside the official process of transfer and registration with its Deeds Office. Under the National Housing Act, recipients of RDP homes are not allowed to sell their properties within the first eight years after acquisition.

This has however not stopped some foregoing the official process.

“Unfortunately what is happening in large parts of the City is that these houses are being traded informally outside of legal processes, and this obviously has negative connotations for both seller and purchaser,” explained mayco member for Human Settlements, councillor Benedicta Van Minnen.

In such sales, the house is still reflected with the Deeds Office as belonging to the original beneficiary. Because the individual who purchases the property is not listed as the owner, and the sale has taken place within the restricted eight year period, a transfer of the home will not be granted by the City.

According to Van Minnen, buyers were effectively acquiring an asset they would not be able to fully benefit from.

“They can’t leverage it, they will battle to get insurance, and it has all sorts of other risks. They’ve gone and paid money for an asset they are essentially never going to be able to own,” she said, also adding that there was little recourse to get their money back.

In the case of the seller and original beneficiary, they were also unlikely to be afforded another housing opportunity from the state.

“The money that they are paid won’t last very long, and they are going to be back in the situation they were in before they received their house,” she added.

Although the original owner may have effectively given up ownership of the property, it remains registered with the City in their name. This means that the City will not reclaim the house, and the buyer will not be asked to vacate the premises. VOC (Mubeen Banderker)


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