Deeds Registries Act, 1937

Act 47 of 1937

There are outstanding amendments that have not yet been applied. See the History tab for more information.

Deeds Registries Act, 1937

Citation: Act 47 of 1937
Date: 26 May 1937
Language: English
Type: Act
Publication: Download PDF (2.8 MB)

Collections

Subject areas
- Agriculture and Land

Deeds Registries Act, 1937

Act 47 of 1937

Published in Government Gazette 2443 on 26 May 1937
Assented to on 19 May 1937
Commenced on 1 September 1937
[This is the version of this document as it was from 26 May 1937 to 13 August 1953.]

ACTTo consolidate and amend the laws in force in the Union relating to the registration of deeds.BE IT ENACTED by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate and the House of Assembly of the Union of South Africa as follows:—

Chapter I
Administration

1. Deeds registries

(1)There shall be deeds registries at Cape Town, Kingwilliamstown, Kimberley, Vryburg, Pietermaritzburg, Pretoria and Bloemfontein, each to serve its respective area as defined in the Second Schedule to this Act. The Rand townships registration office at Johannesburg, shall also be a deeds registry, but only in connection with the registration of documents relating to immovable property in any township in the area served thereby as defined in the said Schedule.

(2)In every deeds registry in the Union existing at the commencement of this Act there shall be carried out to completion as if this Act had not been passed all matters which immediately prior to such commencement were pending in that registry, and each registry mentioned in sub-section (1) shall be a continuation of the deeds registry existing at the commencement of this Act in the area served thereby.

(3)The Governor-General may from time to time, upon the authority of resolutions passed by both Houses of Parliament, alter by proclamation in the Gazette any area defined in the Second Schedule to this Act as the area served by any deeds registry.

2. Appointment of registrar and assistant registrar of deeds

(1)Subject to the provisions of any law relating to the public service, the Governor-General shall, in respect of each deeds registry, appoint an officer to be styled the registrar of deeds, who shall be in charge of the deeds registry in respect of which he has been appointed: Provided that the officer in charge of the Rand townships registration office shall continue to be styled the Rand townships registrar: Provided further that the officer appointed as registrar of deeds in respect of the deeds registry at Cape Town may in addition be appointed as registrar of deeds in respect of either or both of the deeds registries at Kimberley and Vryburg.

(2)The Governor-General may, subject to the provisions of any law relating to the public service, appoint for each deeds registry one or more assistant registrars of deeds, or for the Rand townships registration office, one or more assistant Rand townships registrars who shall respectively have the power, subject to regulations, to do any act or thing which may lawfully be done under this Act or any other law by a registrar of deeds, or by the Rand townships registrar, as the case may be.

(3)Every person holding, at the commencement of this Act, the office of registrar or assistant registrar of deeds or Rand townships registrar, or assistant Rand townships registrar, shall be deemed to have been appointed under this section.

(4)Every registrar appointed under or referred to in this section is hereinafter referred to as the registrar.

(5)Each registrar shall have a seal of office which shall be affixed to all deeds executed or attested by him and to all copies of deeds issued by him to serve in lieu of the original deeds.

3. Duties of registrar

The registrar shall, subject to the provisions of this Act—

(a)take charge of and preserve all records which were prior to the commencement of this Act, or may become after such commencement, records of any deeds registry in respect of which he has been appointed;

(b)examine all deeds or other documents submitted to him for execution or registration, and after examination reject any such deed or other document the execution or registration of which is not permitted by this Act or by any other law, or to the execution or registration of which any other valid objection exists;

(c)register grants or leases of land lawfully issued by the Government;

(d)attest or execute and register deeds of transfer of land, and execute and register certificates of title to land;

(e)attest and register mortgage bonds;

(f)register cessions (including cessions made as security) of registered mortgage bonds, and register cancellations of such cessions if made as security;

(g)register cancellations of registered mortgage bonds, part payments of the capital amount due in respect of any such bond, releases of any part of the property hypothecated thereby, or of all such property if the debt is further secured by a collateral bond, releases of any joint debtor or of any surety in respect of any such bond, and the substitution of another person for a debtor in respect of any such bond.

(h)register waivers of preference in respect of registered bonds in favour of other bonds, whether registered or about to be registered;

(i)register waivers of preference in respect of registered real rights in land, in favour of mortgage bonds, whether registered or about to be registered;

(j)register notarial bonds, and cancellations and cessions thereof (including cessions made as security) and cancellations of such cessions if made as security;

(k)register ante-nuptial contracts, and, in the province of Natal, also post-nuptial contracts, and register such notarial deeds of donation (including a donation to be held in trust), and such other notarial deeds having reference to persons and property within the area served by the registry in question as are required or permitted by law to be registered;

(l)register grants or leases lawfully issued by the Government, of rights to minerals;

(m)register notarial cessions, leases or sub-leases of rights to minerals, notarial cessions of such registered leases or sub-leases, notarial cancellations of such leases or sub-leases, certificates of registration of such rights, and reservations of such rights made in grants or transfers of land;

(n)register on the title deeds of the land or of the rights to minerals affected, and in the relative registers, the issue of mynpachtbrieven;

(o)register any servitude, whether personal or praedial and record the modification or extinction of any registered servitude;

(p)register notarial leases, sub-leases, and cessions of leases or of sub-leases, of land, and cancellations of such leases and sub-leases;

(q)register notarial prospecting contracts and notarial cessions thereof and cancellations of such contracts;

(r)register any real right, not specifically referred to in this section, and any cession, modification or extinction of any such registered right;

(s)register against any registered bond any agreement entered into by the mortgagor and the registered holder of that bond, whereby any terms of that bond have been varied;

(t)register general plans of erven or of sub-divisions of land, open registers of the erven or sub-divisions of land shown on such general plans, and record in such registers the conditions upon which the erven or sub-divisions have been laid out or established;

(u)register powers of attorney whereby the agents named therein are authorized to act generally for the principals granting such powers, or to carry out a series of acts or transactions registrable in a deeds registry, and register copies of such powers registered in another deeds registry, which have been certified by the registrar thereof;

(v)make, in connection with the registration of any deed or other document, or in compliance with the requirements of any law, such endorsements on any registered deed or other document as may be necessary to give effect to such registration or to the objects of such law;

(w)record all notices, returns, statements, or orders of court lodged with him in terms of any law;

(x)remove from his records after notice to the Master and after the lapse of five years from the date of entry in such records, any entry made therein, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, in pursuance of the transmission to him of a notice of liquidation or an order of liquidation or sequestration or in pursuance of the lodging with him by the Master of a return under section twenty-five of the Administration of Estates Act, 1913;

(y)keep the registers prescribed under this Act and any other law, and make such entries therein as are necessary for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act or such other law and of maintaining an efficient System of registration calculated to afford security of title and ready reference to any registered deed;

and generally the registrar shall discharge all such duties as by law may or are to be discharged by a registrar of deeds or as are necessary to give effect to the provisions of this Act: Provided that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed as imposing upon the Rand townships registrar the duty of registering any deed or other document which he would not have registered if this Act had not been passed.

4. Powers of registrar

(1)Each registrar shall have power—

(a)to require the production of proof upon affidavit or otherwise of any fact necessary to be established in connection with any matter or thing sought to be performed or effected in his registry;

(b)whenever it is in his opinion necessary or desirable to rectify in any deed or other document, registered or filed in his registry, an error in the name or the description of any person or property mentioned therein, to rectify the error: Provided that—

(i)every person appearing from the deed or other document to be interested in the rectification, has consented thereto in writing;

(ii)if any such person refuse to consent thereto the rectification may be made on the authority of an order of Court;

(iii)if the error is common to two or more deeds or other documents, including any register in his registry, the error shall be rectified in all those deeds or other documents;

(iv)no such rectification shall be made if it would have the effect of transferring any right;

(v)if the error rectified occurred in a notarial deed the registrar shall require notice to be given of the rectification to the notary concerned or, if he is deceased or has ceased to practise, to the person having lawful custody of his protocol;

(c)to issue, under conditions prescribed by regulation, certified copies of deeds or other documents registered or filed in his registry;

(d)if in his opinion any deed or other document submitted to him has become illegible or unserviceable, to require that a certified copy thereof be obtained to take its place.

(2)Each registrar shall perform, in case of dispute, all the functions of a taxing officer of the court in relation to fees charged by conveyancers and notaries public for performing any acts which are required or permitted under this Act to be performed by conveyancers or notaries public in connection with deeds executed, registered or filed or intended to be executed, registered or filed in a deeds registry or in relation to fees charged by other legal practitioners in connection with the preliminary work necessary for the purposes of any such deed.

5. Transactions affecting land in areas served by different deeds registries

If it is sought to register transactions affecting separate pieces of land situate within the areas served by different deeds registries, the registrars concerned may, subject to the provisions of any regulations, by mutual arrangement, elect such registration in such manner as may be found expedient.

6. Registered deeds not to be cancelled except upon an order of court

Save as is otherwise provided in this Act or in any other law no registered deed of grant, deed of transfer, certificate title or other deed conferring or conveying title to land, or any real right in land other than a mortgage bond, and no cession of any registered bond not made as security, shall be cancelled by a registrar except upon an order of Court.

7. Inspection of records and supply of information

Each registrar shall on conditions prescribed and upon payment of the prescribed fees, permit any member of the public to inspect the public registers and other public records in his registry, and to make copies of those records or extracts from those registers and to obtain such other information concerning deeds or other documents registered or filed in the registry as prior to the commencement of this Act could, customarily, be made or obtained: Provided that no such fee shall be payable in respect of any search or inspection made in a deeds registry—

(a)by a conveyancer or notary public in connection with any deed which he has been instructed to prepare, attest or lodge in such registry; or

(b)by any surveyor in connection with any survey which he has been instructed to perform; or

(c)by any sheriff or messenger of a magistrate’s court, or his deputy, in connection with the exercise of his duties as such.

8. Appointment of Chief Registrar of Deeds

The Governor-General may appoint one of the registrars to be Chief Registrar of Deeds who shall as such be the chairman and executive officer of the deeds registries regulations board mentioned in section nine and shall, subject to the directions of the Minister, exercise such supervision over all the deeds registries as may be necessary in order to bring about uniformity of practice and procedure among them.

9. Regulations board

(1)There shall be established a deeds registries regulations board (in this section referred to as "the board") with power to make regulations upon the subjects mentioned in section ten.

(2)The board shall consist of the registrars of deeds at Cape Town, Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Pietermaritzburg and Kingwilliamstown, the Rand townships registrar, the Government Attorney, one member, who shall be appointed by the Minister, of the Survey Regulations Board established under sub-section (1) of section eight of the Land Survey Act, 1927, and six conveyancers of whom one shall be appointed by each of the incorporated law societies in the several provinces of the Union and two by the Minister who shall be recognised country practitioners.

(3)A member appointed by the Minister shall hold office for such period as the Minister may determine.

(4)A member appointed by an incorporated law society shall hold office for a period of one year.

(5)Every vacancy caused by the death or resignation of an appointed member shall be filled by the appointment by the Minister or the society concerned, as the case may be, of another member, and such other member shall hold office for the unexpired portion of the period for which the member whose office has become vacant, had been appointed.

(6)If any such society fails to make an appointment under sub-section (2) or (5), the Minister may in lieu of such society appoint as a member of the board any conveyancer practising in the province in which such society is established.

(7)The board shall meet at such time and place as the Minister may appoint.

(8)If no Chief Registrar of Deeds has been appointed or if, having been appointed, he is unable to attend any meeting of the board, the Minister shall nominate one of the registrars as chairman of the board, or to act as chairman of such meeting, as the case may be. If the Minister fails so to nominate a registrar, the members present at such meeting shall appoint one of the registrars present to act as chairman of such meeting.

(9)Seven members of the board shall form a quorum at its meetings, and a decision of the majority of the members present at any meeting shall be the decision of the board: Provided that in the event of an equality of votes at any meeting the chairman shall have a casting vote in addition to his deliberative vote.

(10)With the Minister’s approval the board may make regulations without holding a meeting: Provided that no regulation so made shall be of any force or effect unless agreed to by all the members of the board.

(11)No regulation or any amendment or repeal thereof made by the board shall take effect unless it has been approved by the Governor-General and published in the Gazette at least one month before the date on which it is expressed to take effect.

(12)Every such regulation, amendment and repeal shall, within fourteen days after it has taken effect, be laid upon the Tables of both Houses of Parliament if Parliament is then in session, or if Parliament is not then in session, within fourteen days after the commencement of its next ensuing session.

10. Regulations

(1)The board established under section nine may make regulations prescribing—

(a)the procedure to be followed by the said board in carrying out its functions;

(b)the fees of office (if any) to be charged in respect of any act, matter or thing required or permitted to be done in or in relation to a deeds registry, including any report made to the court by the registrar in connection, with any application or action to which he is not a party;

(c)the fees and charges of conveyancers and notaries public in connection with the preparation, passing and registration of deeds or other documents registered or filed or intended for registration or filing in a deeds registry and the fees and charges of any other legal practitioners in connection with the preliminary work required for the purpose of any such deed or other document and the fees and charges in connection with the taxation of any such fees or charges;

(d)the manner and form in which and the qualifications of the person by whom any deed or other document required or permitted to be lodged, registered or filed in any deeds registry shall be prepared, lodged executed, registered, filed or delivered;

(e)the manner and form in which endorsements or entries required by this Act or any other law to be made on registered deeds or other documents or in the registers shall be made thereon or therein;

(f)the particular documents which, when produced in a deeds registry, shall be attested or witnessed, and the manner in which any such document shall be attested or witnessed;

(g)the divisions, districts or other areas within the area served by any deeds registry, which shall be adopted in numbering for the purposes of registration, the farms or other pieces of land situate therein;

(h)the method according to which farms or other pieces of land in any such division, district or other area shall be numbered;

(i)the manner and form in which erven or portions of erven in townships, locations or similar areas may be registered;

(j)the manner and form in which information which is required by law to be furnished to a registrar shall be recorded in his deeds registry, the manner and form in which information permitted by law to be furnished by a registrar to the public shall be furnished and the manner and form in which the identity of persons shall be established;

(k)the conditions upon which conveyancers, surveyors and other persons may conduct any search in a deeds registry, and the precautions which shall be taken to ensure preservation of the records from damage by improper handling or otherwise;

(l)the transmission by any registrar of returns of deeds of transfer, deeds of grant, and certificates of title registered in his deeds registry, to any civil commissioner, magistrate or other officer, and the manner and form of, and times for transmitting such returns;

(m)the conditions under which copies of deeds and other documents registered in a deeds registry may be issued for judicial purposes, or purposes of information or in substitution of deeds or other documents which have been lost, destroyed, defaced or damaged and the conditions under which extracts from registers or from any documents registered or filed in a deeds registry may be furnished;

(n)the manner and form in which consent shall be signified to any cancellation, cession, part payment, release or amendment of or other registrable transaction affecting any bond or other document registered in a deeds registry;

(o)the conditions under which a copy of a power of attorney may be accepted by a registrar in lieu of the original;

(p)the forms of deeds which shall be used in circumstances not provided for in this Act;

(q)the description and form of registers (which may be loose-leaf registers) to be opened and kept by a registrar, the particulars contained in any registered deed which shall be entered in any specified register, the form in which the particulars required to be entered in any specified register shall be entered therein, the form in which the folios of any specified register shall be framed, the number of folios to be included in a volume, and the nature and quality of the covers of the volumes;

(r)the manner and form in which any records filed in a deeds registry shall be bound; and

(s)any matter which under this Act is required or permitted to be prescribed.

(2)Different regulations may be made in respect of the several deeds registeries and the matters to be dealt with therein.

(3)Any regulations made under paragraph (g), (h) or (q) of sub-section (1) shall come into operation within the areas served by the several deeds registries upon dates to be fixed by the Minister by notice in the Gazette.

(4)In making any regulation prescribing the fees and charges of conveyancers in connection with the preparation and passing of deeds the board may prescribe separate fees for the preparation and the passing of deeds in the event of the deeds being prepared by one conveyancer and passed by another.

(5)Notwithstanding anything contained in section one of Act No. 29 of 1908 and sub-section (1) of section three of Act No. 34 of 1908, both of the Transvaal, the Governor-General may, by proclamation in the Gazette, declare the whole or any part of the regulations published under Government Notice No. 1498 of 1918, as amended by Government Notice No. 1631 of 1922, to be no longer of force and effect, and thereupon the regulations board may make in lieu of those regulations new regulations in relation to the matters referred to in sub-section (1) of this section.

(6)The regulations published under Government Notice No. 1498 of 1918, as amended as aforesaid shall remain in force, notwithstanding the repeal of the Deeds Registries Act, 1918, until they have been declared to be no longer of force and effect in the manner provided in sub-section (5) of this section.

Chapter II
Registration

Registers

11. Prescribed registers

(1)The regulations board shall prescribe such personal, property and other registers as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

(2)In addition to such registers as he may be required by any other law to keep, each registrar shall as soon as may be after the commencement of this Act, prepare, open and keep the prescribed registers.

(3)Any prescribed register in which any debts secured by bonds are entered shall be deemed to be a continuation of the debt registers kept in any registry prior to the commencement of this Act and any entries made therein shall have the same effect in law as they would have had if they had been made in the said debt registers.

12. Temporary continuation of existing registers

Until such time as any prescribed register has been prepared and opened each registrar shall continue to keep the corresponding register in use in his registry immediately prior to the commencement of this Act, and to make therein the like entries as were customarily made therein prior to such commencement.

General provisions

13. When registration takes place

(1)Deeds executed or attested by a registrar shall be deemed to be registered upon the affixing of the registrar’s signature thereto: Provided that no such deed, which is one of a batch of interdependent deeds, intended for registration together, shall be deemed to be registered until all the deeds of the batch have been signed by the registrar.

(2)If by inadvertence the registrar’s signature has not been affixed to a deed at the time at which the signature should have been affixed in the ordinary course, the registrar may affix his signature thereto when the omission is discovered, and the deed shall thereupon be deemed to have been registered at the time aforesaid.

(3)All endorsements or entries made on title deeds or in registers in connection with the registration of any deed executed or attested by a registrar shall be deemed to have been effected simultaneously with the registration of such deed, although in fact they may have been made subsequent thereto.

14. Deeds to follow sequence of their relative causes

(1)Save as otherwise provided in this Act or in any other law or as directed by the court—

(a)transfer of land and cessions of real rights therein shall follow the sequence of the successive transactions in pursuance of which they are made, and if made in pursuance of testamentary disposition or intestate succession they shall follow the sequence in which the right to ownership or other real right in the land accrued to the persons successively becoming vested with such right;

(b)it shall not be lawful to depart from any such sequence in recording in any deeds registry any change in the ownership in such land or of such real right: Provided that—

(i)if the property has passed in terms of a will or through intestate succession from a deceased person to his descendants, and one or other of these descendants has died a minor and intestate and no executor has been appointed in his estate, transfer or cession of the property which has vested in that descendant may be passed by the executor in the estate of the deceased person direct to the heirs ab intestato of the descendant;

(ii)if the registrar is satisfied that the value of the immovable property which has vested in any heir or legatee in terms of a will or through intestate succession would be equalled or exceeded by the costs involved in transferring or ceding it to the heir or legatee, and the heir or legatee has sold the property, transfer or cession thereof may, with the consent in writing of the heir or legatee, be passed by the executor in the estate of the deceased person direct to the purchaser;

(iii)if in the administration of the estate of a deceased person any redistribution of the immovable property in such estate takes place among the heirs of the deceased or between such heirs and the surviving spouse, the executor or administrator of such estate may transfer or cede the property direct to the persons entitled thereto in terms of such redistribution.

(2)In any transfer or cession in terms of any proviso to paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) there shall be paid the transfer duty and death duties which would have been payable had the property concerned been transferred or ceded to each person successively becoming entitled thereto.

15. Preparation of deeds by conveyancer

Save as is otherwise provided in any other law, no deed of transfer, mortgage bond or certificate of title or registration of any kind mentioned in this Act shall be attested, executed or registered by a registrar unless it has been prepared by a conveyancer practising within the province within which his registry is situate. Such conveyancer, whether or not he practises at the seat of the registry, may recover the fees and charges to which he may be entitled in accordance with any regulation made under section ten.

16. How real rights shall be transferred

Save as otherwise provided in this Act or in any other law the ownership of land may be conveyed from one person to another only by means of a deed of transfer executed or attested by the registrar, and other real rights in land may be conveyed from one person to another only by means of a deed of cession attested by a notary public and registered by the registrar.

17. Special provisions relating to women

(1)All deeds executed or attested by a registrar, or attested by a notary public and required to be registered in a deeds registry, and made by or on behalf of or in favour of women, shall in each case disclose the full name and status of the woman concerned, whether unmarried, married, widowed, or divorced, as the case may be. If the woman is married the full name of her husband shall also be disclosed, and if the marriage is governed by the law in force in the Union or any part thereof it shall be stated whether the marriage was contracted with or without community of property. If the marriage is governed by the law of any other country it shall be stated that the marriage is governed by the law of that country.

(2)A woman married out of community of property shall be assisted by her husband in executing any deed or other document required or permitted to be registered in any deeds registry or required or permitted to be produced in connection with any such deed or document, unless the marital power has been excluded or unless the assistance of the husband is on other grounds deemed by the registrar to be unnecessary.

(3)Immovable property shall not be transferred or ceded to a woman married in community of property, save where such property is by law or by a condition of a bequest or donation thereof, excluded from the community and the marital power.

(4)If immovable property not excluded from the community has at the commencement of this Act been registered in the name of a woman married in community of property which still subsists, her husband to whom she is so married may, unless she has been authorized by an order of court to deal therewith, alone deal with such property.

(5)If immovable property has been acquired by one or other of two spouses married in community of property in such a manner that the said property would on transfer or cession thereof become part of the joint estate, and the community has been dissolved by the death of one of the spouses before the property is transferred or ceded, the property shall be transferred or ceded to the joint estate of the spouses, pending liquidation thereof, and shall subject to the provisions of any disposition affecting the property, be deemed to be the joint property of the surviving spouse and of the estate of the deceased spouse.

Chapter III
Registration of land

Transfer of land

18. Manner of dealing with Crown land

(1)The ownership of unalienated Crown land may be transferred from the Crown only by a deed of grant issued under proper authority and, save as hereinafter provided, having a diagram of the land annexed thereto.

(2)The ownership of land alienated from and reacquired by the Crown may be transferred from the Crown either by deed of grant or by deed of transfer issued or executed, as the case may be, under proper authority, but in either case the deed of grant or transfer shall contain a reference to the title deed by which the Crown held the land and to the title deed to which the diagram of the land is annexed and shall set forth the conditions upon which the land is alienated and the rights to the land reserved by the Crown on this alienation.

(3)If any piece of unalienated Crown land has been surveyed and is represented on a diagram the registrar concerned shall, upon written application by the Minister, accompanied by the diagram of the land in duplicate, enter particulars of the land in the appropriate registers and execute in the prescribed form and in accordance with the diagram, a certificate of registered Crown title thereof prepared by a conveyancer.

(4)Transfer of the ownership of land held by the Crown under certificate of registered Crown title shall be effected by deed of grant issued under proper authority, but it shall not be necessary to annex a diagram of the land thereto: Provided that the grant shall contain a reference to the certificate and to the diagram annexed to the certificate.

(5)No deed (other than a deed of grant conveying ownership) purporting to create or deal with or dispose of any real right in any piece of unalienated Crown land shall be capable of registration until a certificate of registered Crown title has been executed in respect of that piece of land.

19. Reference to Crown rights under Cradock proclamation in future deeds

(1)Land situate in the province of the Cape of Good Hope and held on perpetual quitrent tenure under title deeds derived from a grant issued under the provisions of the Proclamation of Sir John Cradock dated the sixth day of August, 1813, and which tenure has not been converted into freehold, shall, whether the quitrent has been redeemed or abolished or not, be described, in any deed conferring title thereto issued, executed, attested or registered after the commencement of this Act, as being subject to the reservation in favour of the Crown of the rights to mines of gold, silver and precious stones mentioned in section four of the said Proclamation.

(2)Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) the reservation in favour of the Government, made in section four of the said Proclamation, of the right of making and repairing public roads and raising materials for that purpose on the premises, shall not be deemed to have been in any way affected or altered.

20. Form and manner of execution of deeds of transfer

Deeds of transfer shall be prepared in the forms prescribed by law or by regulation, and, save as in this Act or any law provided or as ordered by the court in respect of deeds of transfer executed by the registrar, shall be executed in the presence of the registrar by the owner of the land described therein, or by a conveyancer authorized by power of attorney to act on behalf of the owner, and shall be attested by the registrar.

21. Transfer from joint estate

In any transfer lodged in a deeds registry relating to land which is an asset in a joint estate, the surviving spouse shall be joined in his personal capacity with the executor of the estate of the deceased spouse except—

(a)where the executor is only dealing with the share of the deceased spouse; or

(b)where the land has been sold to pay the debts of the joint estate; or

(c)where there has been a massing of the joint estate and the surviving spouse has adiated.

22. Transfer of two or more pieces of land by one deed

(1)Two or more persons each owning a different piece of land may not transfer those pieces of land to one or more persons by the same deed of transfer, unless such transfer is authorized by the provisions of a law or by an order of court.

(2)Two or more pieces of land may by one deed be transferred by one person or by two or more persons holding such pieces of land in undivided shares, to one person or to two or more persons acquiring such pieces of land in undivided shares: Provided that each piece of land is described in a separate paragraph.

(3)Two or more portions of a piece of land may by one deed be transferred by one person or by two or more persons holding the whole of such piece of land in undivided shares to one person or to two or more persons acquiring such portions in undivided shares: Provided that each portion is described in a separate paragraph in which reference is made to the diagram of that portion. The diagrams of all such portions shall be annexed to the deed.

23. Transfer of undivided shares in land by one deed

(1)Land held by one person may be transferred by one deed from that person to two or more other persons in undivided shares.

(2)Land held by two or more persons in undivided shares may be transferred by one deed from those persons to any other person, or to two or more other persons in undivided shares.

24. Special provisions relating to transfer of undivided shares

(1)No transfer of an undivided share in land which is intended or calculated to represent or purports to represent a defined portion of land shall be capable of being registered.

(2)If a piece of land is owned by two or more persons in undivided shares and one or more of such persons acquires the share or shares of the remaining owner or owners in a defined portion of that piece of land, all the owners jointly, including the owner or owners acquiring the share or shares, may transfer such portion to the person or persons acquiring it.

25. Transfer to unascertained children

(1)If land is donated or bequeathed to the children born or to be born of any person or of any marriage, transfer of the land on behalf of such children may be passed in the case of children born or to be born of a person, to that person, and in the case of children born or to be born of a marriage, to the person who would be the natural guardian of those children during their minority.

(2)If land is donated to the children born or to be born of any person or of any marriage, the person to whom transfer may be passed in terms of sub-section (1), may for the purposes of such transfer, accept the donation.

(3)When the identity of all such children has been established the registrar shall make an endorsement on the transfer deed setting out their names, whereupon the transfer deed shall be deemed to be to and in favour of such children in the same manner as if the transfer had originally been passed to them by name.

26. Deeds of partition transfer

(1)If two or more persons who own in undivided shares the whole of any piece or pieces of land, have agreed to partition that land, the registrar shall, on production to him of a power of attorney by such persons authorizing the passing of deeds of partition transfer of such land in accordance with the agreement of partition, which agreement shall be embodied in the power of attorney or annexed thereto, and on compliance with the further provisions of this section, attest deeds of partition transfer which shall be as nearly as practicable in the prescribed form, conveying to the respective owners the land or shares therein awarded to them under the said agreement.

(2)In the power of attorney or agreement of partition referred to in sub-section (1) there shall be described—

(a)the land to be partitioned;

(b)the share or shares registered in the name of each joint owner;

(c)the land or share therein awarded to each of the owners;

(d)the conditions (if any) affecting any land or share therein so awarded; and

(e)the consideration (if any) given for the purpose of equalizing the partition.

(3)There shall also be produced to the registrar the title deeds of the land to be partitioned and the necessary diagrams: Provided that no new diagram need be produced in respect of the whole or the remaining extent of any one of the pieces of land to be partitioned.

(4)Subject to the provisions of this section, the provisions of sections twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two and twenty-three shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of deeds of partition transfer.

(5)Any deed of partition transfer attested under sub-section (1) shall in respect of the land therein described take the place of the deed or deeds by which it was previously held, but the partition transfer shall not vary or affect the conditions of tenure of the said land or any other conditions affecting the said land generally, save in so far as such last-mentioned conditions may be varied, defined or limited by the agreement of partition or the consents of interested parties.

(6)The provisions of this section shall mutatis mutandis apply to a partition of land ordered by the court or determined by an award of arbitrators.

27. Requisites where share in land partitioned is mortgaged

(1)If the share or shares owned by any of the parties to a partition is mortgaged, the partition transfers shall not be attested unless the bond is produced to the registrar together with the written consent of the legal holder of the bond, to the partition and to the substitution of the land awarded on partition to the mortgagor for the share or shares mortgaged.

(2)In registering the transfer the registrar shall—

(a)endorse on the bond that the land awarded to the mortgagor has been substituted for the share or shares mortgaged;

(b)make an entry of the substitution in the registers; and

(c)endorse on the transfer that the land described therein is, in accordance with this section, mortgaged by the bond.

(3)If only a fraction of the share or shares owned by any of the parties to a partition is mortgaged, the substitution referred to in this section shall only take place in respect of the fraction so mortgaged, if from the agreement of partition or from other evidence it appears that a defined portion or share therein has been separately awarded in respect of such mortgaged fraction.

28. Requisites where share in land partitioned is subject to other rights

(1)If the share or shares owned by any of the parties to a partition appear from the title deeds of the land partitioned to be subject to a lease, personal servitude or other real right, the written consent of the holder thereof, together with the deed, if any, by which the lease, servitude or real right is held, shall be produced to the registrar.

(2)The land described in the deeds of partition transfer shall be made subject to the lease, servitude or real right to the same extent as the share or shares for which it is substituted, and the deed, if any, by which the lease, servitude or real right is held, shall be endorsed by the registrar in the same manner as the bond mentioned in section twenty-seven.

(3)If there exists any bond by which the lease, servitude or real right is itself mortgaged, that bond shall also be produced to the registrar, together with the written consent of the legal holder thereof, and the registrar shall make the endorsements and entries mentioned in section twenty-seven on the bond, the deeds concerned and in the registers.

29. Effect of compliance with sections 27 and 28

Upon completion of the endorsements and entries mentioned in sections twenty-seven and twenty-eight the land described in the deeds of partition transfer, and the lease, personal servitude or real right (if any) shall be deemed to be as fully and effectually mortgaged as if they had been hypothecated by the bond at the time of its execution and the said land shall be deemed to be as fully and effectually encumbered by the said lease, personal servitude or real right as if it had been encumbered thereby at the time of the registration thereof.

30. Partition of land subject to fidei commissum

(1)Any piece of land the whole or any share of which is subject to a fidei commissum may, where partition has not been prohibited, be partitioned with the written consent of the fidei commissary heirs or successors if they are ascertained and are majors and otherwise competent; if they are ascertained but any of them are minors, the consent of the Master shall be produced in respect of the minors; if they are ascertained but any of them have been declared insolvent, or if they are under curatorship or otherwise under disability the consent of their trustees or curators or other legal representatives shall be produced on their behalf; if they are not ascertained or if they cannot be found, proof shall be produced to the satisfaction of the registrar that the land awarded in the agreeement of partition to the owner of any share subject to the fidei commissum is an equivalent of that share.

(2)The land so awarded shall in the deed of partition transfer be made subject to the fidei commissum in the same manner as the corresponding share was in its title deed made subject thereto before partition.

31. Transfer of expropriated land or land vested by statute

(1)Whenever any land has, under the authority of any law, been expropriated by, and whenever the ownership of any land has by statute been vested in, the State, any public or local authority or any corporate body or any association of persons, the registrar shall, upon lodgment with him of a deed of transfer in the prescribed form prepared by a conveyancer in favour of the transferee, execute the same, and if the land is hypothecated, he shall note the fact of such transfer against the entry of the bond in the register in which such entry has been made: Provided that no such transfer shall prejudice any claim to compensation which any owner or other person may have in respect of the change of ownership of such land.

(2)The transferee shall produce the title deeds of such land to the registrar together with the aforesaid deed of transfer, and the registrar shall thereupon note the transfer on such title deeds. Failing the production of such title deeds, the transferee shall produce to the registrar an order of court referred to in sub-section (3).

(3)The owner of such land shall, upon demand, hand over his title deeds to the transferee and if he fails to do so, the transferee may apply to court for an order directing the owner to do so, and authorizing the registrar to execute the aforesaid deed of transfer without the production of the said title deeds, if the owner should fail to comply with such order.

(4)The registrar shall not execute the said deed of transfer unless he is satisfied that any notice prescribed by or under any law in connection with the change of ownership of such land has been duly served upon the person entitled to such notice, and may call for such diagrams as he may think necessary.

(5)No deed purporting to transfer such land or to create or deal with any real right therein shall be registered in a deeds registry until transfer thereof has been passed in accordance with sub-section (1).

32. Registration of expropriated servitudes or servitudes vested by statute

(1)Whenever any right of servitude over any land has under the authority of any law been expropriated by, or has by statute been vested in the State, any public or local authority or any corporate body or any association of persons, the owner of the land shall on demand of the holder of such right sign or authorize the signature of a notarial deed evidencing such servitude and hand over to such holder the title deeds of the land.

(2)If the owner of the land fails to comply with the provisions of sub-section (1), the holder of the right of servitude may apply to the court for an order directing the owner to sign or authorize the signature of the notarial deed and to hand over the title deeds, and authorizing some person on failure of the owner to comply with such order, to appear before a notary public and execute the said deed in the place of the owner, and authorizing the registrar to register the said deed without the production of the title deeds.

(3)On production of the prescribed number of copies of the said deed duly executed and of the title deeds or of the order of court authorizing registration of such deed without production of the title deeds, the registrar shall register the deed, and if the land is hypothecated, shall note the fact of such registration against the entry of the bond in the register in which such entry has been made: Provided that no such registration shall prejudice any claim to compensation which any owner or other person may have in respect of the expropriation or vesting of such servitude.

(4)The registrar shall not register the said deed unless he is satisfied that any notice prescribed by or under any law in connection with the expropriation of such servitude, has been duly served upon the person entitled to such notice, and may call for such diagrams as he may think necessary.

33. Registration of title by other than the ordinary procedure

(1)Any person who has acquired in any manner, other than by prescription or expropriation, the right to the ownership of immovable property registered in the name of any other person and who is unable to procure registration thereof in his name in the usual manner and according to the sequence of the successive transactions or successions in pursuance of which the right to the ownership of such property has devolved upon him, may, in lieu of applying to the court, apply in writing to the commission constituted in terms of this section for the province in which such property is situate, for an order authorizing the registration in his name of such property.

(2)

(a)The commission referred to in sub-section (1) shall consist—

(i)in the province of the Transvaal, of the registrar of deeds, the registrar of mining titles, and the surveyor-general;

(ii)in the province of the Cape of Good Hope, of the registrar of deeds at Cape Town, the surveyor-general, and the Master of the Supreme Court; and

(iii)in the provinces of the Orange Free State and Natal, of the registrar of deeds, the surveyor-general and the Master of the Supreme Court.

(b)The said commission shall have all the powers, jurisdiction and privileges described in the Commissions Powers Ordinance, 1902, of the Transvaal, and the provisions of the said Ordinance shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of it.

(3)In the provinces of the Transvaal, the Orange Free State and Natal, the registrar of deeds, and in the province of the Cape of Good Hope, the registrar of deeds at Cape Town, shall be chairman of the commission.

(4)All applications under this section shall be made to the chairman of the commission concerned.

(5)The applicant shall submit, together with his application, sworn declarations and all available documentary evidence in support thereof.

(6)

(a)Particulars of any such application received by the chairman of the commission concerned, shall be published at the expense of the applicant in three successive ordinary issues of the Gazette, and once every week during three successive weeks in one or more newspapers circulating in the district or other area in which the property concerned is situate.

(b)Any person objecting to the granting of such application shall within a period of two months from the date of the first publication in the Gazette or in a newspaper, whichever be the later date, or within such extended period as the commission may on application allow, submit in writing to the chairman of the commission full particulars of the grounds upon which his objection is based, together with any sworn declarations or documentary evidence which he may be able to produce in support of his objection.

(7)

(a)Upon the expiration of the period mentioned in sub-section (6) the commission concerned shall enquire into the application and the objections, if any, lodged thereto, and shall, if satisfied that the applicant is entitled to the ownership of the property to which the application relates, order the registrar of deeds to register the said property in the name of the applicant subject to the conditions, if any, mentioned in the order.

(b)The commission may make such order as to the costs of or in connection with the application or the objections thereto as it may deem just and such costs may be taxed and any such order enforced in the same manner as if the order were an order of court.

(8)

(a)Any order made under this section by a commission on a registrar of deeds shall be subject to an appeal to the court.

(b)Notice of such appeal shall be given, within fourteen days of the date of the order, to the chairman of the commission, the registrar of the court and any other party concerned.

(c)The registrar of deeds to whom the order is directed shall not act thereon until the aforesaid period allowed for noting an appeal has expired, or, if an appeal has been noted, until such appeal has been determined in favour of the respondent or has been withdrawn.

(9)Subject to the terms of any order made under this section any deed of transfer passed in pursuance of such order shall be passed subject to every condition, servitude, bond or other encumbrance to which, according to the records of the deeds registry the property to which the application relates, is subject, and the registrar shall, in connection with such condition, servitude, bond or other encumbrance, make the usual and proper entries and endorsements upon or in respect of such deed of transfer in his registry, before such deed is delivered to the applicant.

(10)A registration of immovable property made in the name of any person in pursuance of an order made under this section shall have the effect of vesting such person with a title to such property which shall be liable to be annulled, limited or altered on every ground on which the title of such person to such property would have been liable to be annulled, limited or altered, if such property had been transferred to such person in the ordinary course.

(11)If in pursuance of any order made under this section the registrar of deeds registers any property in the name of any person, such person shall be liable to pay such taxes, duties and fees of office in respect of such registration as he would have been liable to pay if such property had been transferred to him in the usual manner directly from the last registered owner thereof, and shall not be liable to pay any tax, duty, quitrent or interest thereon which such owner or any intermediate holder of the right to such property may have become liable to pay, unless he shall by agreement have bound himself to pay such tax, duty, quitrent or interest, or unless the delay in obtaining the registration in his name was due to the neglect or default of himself or his agent: Provided that any person who has become liable to pay any such tax, duty, quitrent or interest shall continue to be so liable notwithstanding that such property has, in pursuance of an order made under this section, been registered in the name of another person.

(12)Upon production to the registrar of deeds of any order made under this section and of a certificate by the proper officer as to the payment of the transfer duty, if any, which the person named in the order is liable to pay, and on compliance with any other requirements which have under this Act or any regulation made thereunder, to be complied with, the registrar shall register such property in accordance with the said order, by executing a deed of transfer thereof in the prescribed form in favour of the person named in the order.

Substituted title deeds

34. Certificate of registered title of undivided share

(1)Any person who is the joint owner of a piece of land the whole of or shares in which is or are held by such person and others under one title deed, may, subject to the provisions of section thirty-seven, obtain a certificate of registered title of his undivided share in such land, and no transfer of a fraction only of his undivided share or hypothecation or lease of the whole or any fraction of his undivided share in the land shall be registered in a deeds registry unless a certificate of registered title of such undivided share is produced to the registrar: Provided that all the joint owners so holding under one title deed may together transfer an undivided share in the land or a fraction of the share held under such deed or hypothecate or effect the registration of a lease of the whole of such land or share without the production of such a certificate.

(2)If the title deed under which land or shares therein is held in joint ownership is lost or destroyed any joint owner may, upon compliance with the prescribed requirements, obtain a certificate of registered title in respect of his share in the land without obtaining a certified copy of the deed which has been lost or destroyed.

(3)The provisions of sub-sections (1) and (2) shall apply also where two or more pieces of land or shares therein are held in joint ownership by the same title deed: Provided that all the pieces of land or the shares therein shall be included in the certificate of registered title and shall be described in separate paragraphs.

35. Certificate of registered title of aggregate share

Any person who is, by virtue of more than one title deed, the owner of undivided shares in one or more than one piece of land may, subject to the provisions of section thirty-seven, obtain a certificate of registered title in respect of his aggregate share in the land: Provided that if there are two or more pieces of land the several pieces of land or shares therein shall be described in separate paragraphs.

36. Certificate of registered title of one or more properties held under one deed

Any person who holds two or more pieces of land, or undivided shares therein, by one title deed may, subject to the provisions of section thirty-seven, obtain a certificate of registered title in respect of one or more of such pieces of land or of the undivided share or shares held by him therein: Provided that at least one of the pieces of land or the share therein held by such deed remains held thereby.

37. Conditions governing the issue of certificates of registered title

(1)A certificate of registered title mentioned in section thirty-four, thirty-five or thirty-six may be obtained upon written application by the owner to the registrar accompanied, save as provided in sub-section (2) of section thirty-four, by the title deed of the land and shall be as nearly as practicable in the prescribed form.

(2)If the property concerned is subject to a registered mortgage bond or to any registered deed of lease or other registered deed whereby any real rights in the land are held by other persons, that bond or other deed shall be produced to the registrar by the holder thereof, upon the request and at the expense of the applicant for the certificate of registered title.

(3)Before issuing any such certificate the registrar shall cause to be made upon the title deed or deeds in question and the registry duplicates thereof or in the case provided in subsection (2) of section thirty-four, upon the registry duplicate only, and upon the mortgage bond or other deed (if any) an endorsement that a certificate of registered title has, in accordance with the appropriate section of this Act, been substituted for the said title deed or deeds in respect of the property in question. The registrar shall further make entries in the registers of the issue of the certificate and shall, if the property is mortgaged, endorse that fact upon the certificate.

(4)Any such certificate when issued shall in respect of the property described therein take the place of the title deed or deeds by which such property was previously held and the issue of the certificate shall not in any manner affect any right or obligation in connection with such property.

38. Certificate of registered title taking place of lost or destroyed deed

(1)If the title deed of any land has been lost or destroyed and the registry duplicate of such title deed has also been lost or destroyed, the registrar shall, on written application by the owner of the land, accompanied by a diagram of the land, if no diagram thereof is filed in the registry or in the office of the surveyor-general concerned, execute a certificate of registered title in respect of such land in accordance with the diagram of the land.

(2)Before issuing the certificate the registrar shall, at the expense of the applicant, publish in the prescribed form notice of intention to issue the certificate in two consecutive ordinary issues of the Gazette and in two consecutive issues of a newspaper printed in the division, district or county in which the land is situate, or if there is no such newspaper then in any newspaper circulating in such division, district or county.

(3)A draft of the proposed certificate and a copy of the diagram, if any, accompanying the application, shall be open for inspection in the registry free of charge by any interested person, for a period of six weeks after the date of the first publication of the notice in the Gazette, during which period any person interested may object to the issue of the certificate.

(4)Any person who has lodged with the registrar an objection to the issue of the certificate may, in default of any arrangement between him and the applicant, apply to the court within one month after the last day upon which an objection may be lodged, for an order prohibiting the registrar from issuing the certificate, and the court may make such order on the application as it may deem fit.

(5)A certificate of registered title issued under this section shall be as nearly as practicable in the prescribed form and shall take the place of the lost or destroyed title deed and shall embody or refer to every condition, servitude, bond, lease or other encumbrance which according to the records of the registry was embodied or referred to in the lost or destroyed title deed or in any endorsement thereon.

39. Certificate of registered title to correct error in registration

(1)If by reason of an error the same land has been registered in the names of different persons, the registrar may, upon transfer of the land being given to one of them by the other or others, issue to the person to whom transfer is so given a certificate of registered title of the land held by him under the various title deeds.

(2)The provisions of section thirty-seven shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of the issue of such certificate.

40. Certificate of consolidated or amended title of two or more pieces of land

(1)If a diagram has been framed and approved under provisions of section forty-one of the Land Survey Act 1927, and such diagram represents two or more pieces of land which are—

(a)contiguous to each other;

(b)owned by the same person or by two or more persons in the same undivided shares in each such piece of land;

(c)held on similar conditions of tenure;

(d)registered in the same property register; and

(e)situate in the same district, division or county,

the title deed or deeds of the said pieces of land may on compliance with the requirements of this section be superseded by a certificate of consolidated title issued by the registrar in the prescribed form.

(2)If any diagram representing such pieces of land as are mentioned in sub-section (1) has been framed and approved under the provisions of any other section of the aforesaid Act, the title deed or deeds of the said pieces of land may on compliance with the requirements of this section be superseded by a certificate of amended title issued by the registrar in the prescribed form.

(3)Every such certificate shall be in accordance with the new diagram and shall be issued on written application by the owner or owners of the pieces of land concerned accompanied by the title deed or deeds thereof, any bond thereon, and any registered deed of lease or other registered deed whereby any real right in the land is held by any other person, together with the written consent of the holder of any such bond, lease or right.

(4)In registering the certificate the registrar shall endorse on the title deed or deeds that they have in respect of the land described in the certificate been superseded by the certificate, and on the certificate that the land therein described or the share thereof referred to in such endorsement, is mortgaged by such bond, or subject to such lease or right, unless this appears from the certificate itself, and shall make such endorsements on the bond or other deed and such entries in the registers as shall clearly indicate that the land is now owned by virtue of the certificate and that the land or such share thereof is subject to such bond, lease or right.

(5)If portion only of the land represented on the new diagram is mortgaged or if different portions of such land are mortgaged under different bonds, Fthe certificate may not be issued unless the bonds are cancelled.

(6)

(a)If portion only of the said land is subject to any registered deed of lease or other registered deed other than a bond, whereby any real right in the land is held by any other person, the certificate shall not be issued unless a diagram of such portion is already annexed to the said registered deed, or, if no such diagram is so annexed, unless a diagram in duplicate (or triplicate if required by the registrar) of such portion is produced.

(b)The said diagram shall be annexed to the registered deed aforesaid and the registry duplicate thereof, and shall be mentioned in any endorsement made on or reference made in the certificate concerning such registered deed.

(7)The provisions of this section shall also apply mutatis mutandis to a consolidation or amendment of title of the whole of one or more of such pieces of land as are described in sub-section (1) and any defined portion of any other such piece of land, and to a consolidation or amendment of title of defined portions of two or more such pieces of land: Provided that such pieces of land or portions in respect of which the consolidation or amendment of title takes place, shall be contiguous to one another, and that the extent of each portion shall be disclosed on the diagram.

(8)No diagram representing a combination of portions of two or more pieces of land shall be accepted in a deeds registry for purposes of transfer until a certificate of consolidated or amended title has been issued for the land represented on such diagram.

(9)More than one combination of portions of two or more pieces of land, each of which combinations is represented on a separate diagram, may be included in one certificate of consolidated or amended title: Provided that each combination is described in a separate paragraph therein.

41. Certificate of amended title of one piece of land

(1)A certificate of amended title in the prescribed form may also be issued by the registrar in respect of any one piece of land where rectification of title is required in consequence of a survey or re-survey of such land as provided in the Land Survey Act, 1927.

(2)The provisions of sub-sections (3) to (6) inclusive of section forty shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of such certificate.

42. Certificate of uniform title

(1)If the owner of two or more pieces of land which are-

(a)contiguous to each other;

(b)situate in the same district, division or county;

(c)registered in the same property register; and

(d)held on different conditions of tenure, or subject to different rights reserved in favour of the Crown,

desires to consolidate his title in respect of those pieces of land on uniform conditions of tenure or subject to the reservation of uniform rights in favour of the Crown, the title deeds of the said pieces of land may, with the written consent of the Minister and on compliance with the provisions of this section, be superseded by a certificate of uniform title issued by the registrar, in the prescribed form, subject to such uniform conditions of tenure or to the reservation of such uniform rights in favour of the Crown, as are set forth in such written consent.

(2)The provisions of sub-sections (3) to (6) inclusive of section forty shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of such certificate.

(3)The Minister may agree with the owner as to the aforesaid uniform conditions of tenure or uniform rights in favour of the Crown, and may consent to the issue of a certificate of uniform title.

(4)If the said land is subject to any bond or if the said land or any portion thereof is subject to any registered deed of lease or other registered deed whereby any real right in the land is held by any other person, there shall be produced to the registrar the written consent of the holder of any such bond, lease or right to the issue of the certificate of uniform title and to the uniform conditions of tenure or uniform rights in favour of the Crown, which may have been agreed upon.

(5)The provisions of this section shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of land comprising portions which are held on different conditions of tenure or subject to different rights reserved in favour of the Crown, and the title to which has been consolidated prior to the commencement of this Act.

43. Certificate of registered title of portion of a piece of land

(1)If a defined portion of a piece of land has been surveyed and a diagram there has been approved by the surveyor-general concerned, the registrar may on written application by the owner of the land accompanied by the diagram of such portion, the title deed of the land, any bond thereon and any registered deed of lease or other registered deed whereby any real right in the land is held by any other person and the written consent of the holder of any such bond, lease or right, issue a certificate of registered title in respect of such portion, as nearly as practicable in the prescribed form.

(2)In registering the certificate the registrar shall endorse on the title deed that it has been superseded by the certificate in respect of the land described in the certificate, and on the certificate that the land described therein is mortgaged by the bond, or that it is subject to such lease or right, unless this appears from the certificate itself, and shall make such endorsements on the bond and other deed and such entries in the registers as shall clearly indicate that the land is now owned by virtue of the certificate and is subject to such bond, lease or right.

(3)The provisions of this section shall also apply where two or more defined portions of a piece of land have been surveyed and the diagrams thereof approved: Provided that each of such portions shall be described in a separate paragraph in the certificate.

(4)No defined portion of a piece of land shall be mortgaged until the owner thereof has obtained a certificate of registered title in respect of such portion in accordance with the provisions of this section.

Change of title by endorsement

44. Rectification of title by endorsement

(1)If rectification of title is required in respect of any one piece of land in consequence of a survey or re-survey of such land or of the correction of any error in the diagram thereof under the Land Survey Act, 1927, the registrar may, on written application by the owner of the land accompanied by the title deed and the new or the corrected diagram thereof, any bond thereon and any registered deed of lease or other registered deed whereby any real right therein is held by any other person and the written consent of the holder of such bond, lease or right, endorse on the title deed in the prescribed form a description of the land according to the new or corrected diagram, which description shall supersede the description already appearing in the title deed.

(2)If a new diagram is produced the registrar shall in making the said endorsement substitute the new diagram for the old one in the manner prescribed.

45. Transfer or cession by means of endorsement

(1)If immovable property or a bond is registered in a deeds registry in the name of the survivor of two spouses who were married in community of property or in the name of the joint estate of such spouses and such survivor has lawfully acquired the share of the deceased spouse in the property or bond, the registrar shall on written application by such survivor and by the executor in the estate of the deceased spouse, accompanied by such other documents as may be prescribed, endorse on the title deeds of the property or on the bond that the survivor is entitled to deal with such property or bond, and thereupon such survivor shall be entitled to deal therewith as if he had taken formal transfer or cession into his own name of the share of the deceased spouse in the property or bond.

(2)If the immovable property mentioned in sub-section (1) is hypothecated under a registered mortgage bond the endorsement provided for in the said sub-section shall not be made unless—

(a)such bond is cancelled or;

(b)the said property or the share of the deceased spouse therein is released from the bond; or

(c)the said bond has been passed by the survivor alone and a written consent (which shall be in duplicate, in the prescribed form and signed by the survivor and the legal holder of the bond) to the release of the estate of the deceased spouse from liability under the bond and to the substitution of the survivor as sole debtor in respect thereof, is produced to the registrar together with the bond.

(3)The registrar shall, in any case of release and substitution in terms of paragraph (c) of sub-section (2), when he endorses on the title deeds of the property that the survivor is entitled to deal therewith—

(a)make in the appropriate register an entry setting forth that the estate of the deceased spouse is released from liability in respect of the obligation secured by the bond and that the survivor has become sole debtor in respect of the bond;

(b)annex one duplicate of the written consent referred to in the said paragraph to the bond and file the other with the registry duplicate of the bond; and

(c)endorse on the bond that the estate of the deceased spouse is released from liability in respect of the obligation secured thereby and that the survivor has become sole debtor in respect of the bond.

(4)As from the date of the endorsement on the title deeds of the property in terms of sub-section (1), the estate of the deceased spouse shall be absolved from any obligation secured by the bond and the survivor shall become sole debtor in respect thereof in the same manner as if he had passed the bond at that date.

Chapter IV
Townships and settlements

46. Requirements in the case of subdivision of land into lots or erven

(1)If land has been sub-divided into lots or erven shown on a general plan, the owner of the land sub-divided shall furnish a copy of the general plan to the registrar, who shall, subject to compliance with the requirements of this section and of any other law, register the plan and open a register in which all registrable transactions affecting the respective lots or erven shown on the plan shall be registered.

(2)For the purposes of registration of such a general plan the title deed of the land which has been sub-divided shall be produced to the registrar together with the diagram thereof.

(3)If the land sub-divided as shown on the general plan forms the whole of any registered piece of land held by the title deed, the registrar shall make upon the title deed and the registry duplicate thereof an endorsement in the prescribed form indicating that the land has been laid out as a township or settlement, as the case may be, in accordance with the plan, and that the lots or erven shown on the plan are to be registered in the relative register.

(4)If the land sub-divided as shown on the general plan forms a portion only of any registered piece of land held by the title deed the registrar shall, on written application by the owner of the land, issue a certificate of township or settlement title in his favour in respect of the said portion as nearly as practicable in the prescribed form and in accordance with a diagram thereof.

(5)If the land sub-divided as shown on the general plan comprises the whole or portions of two or more registered pieces of land, the registrar may require the owner to obtain a certificate of consolidated or amended title of the land so sub-divided. The registrar shall make on such certificate the endorsement mentioned in sub-section (3).

(6)The provisions of section forty-three and of sub-section (3) to (6) inclusive of section forty shall respectively and mutatis mutandis apply in respect of the certificates of township or settlement title mentioned in sub-section (4), and the certificates of consolidated or amended title mentioned in sub-section (5).

47. Transfer of township or portion thereof

The owner of land in respect of which a register has been opened under section forty-six may transfer, by one deed, the whole or any portion of such land or a share in the whole of such land: Provided that—

(a)if a portion only of the land is sought to be transferred—

(i)the transfer shall be passed in accordance with a diagram (to be annexed to such deed) from which shall be excluded all erven on the land represented thereon which have already been transferred, and on which the total area of such transferred erven shall be indicated;

(ii)the boundaries of such portion shall coincide with one or more of the lines of division shown on the general plan and shall not intersect any of the erven shown thereon;

(b)if the remainder of the land is sought to be transferred there shall be produced to the registrar a certificate of remainder signed by the surveyor-general; and

(c)the deed of transfer shall disclose that the land conveyed thereby has been laid out as a township or is a portion of land so laid out, that such land remains subject to the provisions of the law relating to townships, and, if any public place or portion thereof in such township forms part of the land transferred, that the rights of owners of erven and of other persons to such public place are not affected by such transfer.

48. Special provisions affecting mortgaged land in Rand townships registration area

If any land situate in the area served by the Rand townships registration office at Johannesburg has been sub-divided into lots or erven shown on a general plan, which has, in terms of section forty-six been furnished to the Rand townships registrar, and if that land is mortgaged together with other land registered in the deeds registry at Pretoria but not in the Rand townships registration office, every transaction affecting the bond shall be registered in both the deeds registry at Pretoria and the Rand townships registration office.

49. Special provisions regarding townships in the Transvaal

(1)If any area of land in the province of the Transvaal constitutes by reason of its situation a portion of an existing township, the Administrator may, by proclamation in the official Gazette of that Province, extend the boundaries of that township to include such area, and thereupon such area of land shall be deemed to be and shall be registered as an erf in that township.

(2)If that township is situate in the area served by the Rand townships registration office at Johannesburg, the registrar at Pretoria shall furnish the Rand townships registrar with certified copies of the title to the land to be included in such township and of all deeds affecting it, and the Rand Townships registrar shall thereupon enter the same in the appropriate registers.

Chapter V
Bonds

General provisions

50. Execution of bonds

(1)A mortgage bond shall be executed in the presence of the registrar by the owner of the immovable property therein described or by a conveyancer duly authorized by such owner by power of attorney, and shall be attested by the registrar.

(2)A bond may be registered to secure an existing debt or a future debt or both existing and future debts.

(3)Bonds intended to secure loans for building purposes shall be deemed to be bonds to secure existing debts.

(4)If in a bond purporting to secure a future debt the amount of an existing debt is mentioned, such existing debt shall be deemed to be secured as part of the maximum amount intended to be secured by the bond.

(5)Save as authorized by any other law or by order of the Court, debts or obligations to more than one creditor arising from different causes may not be secured by one bond.

51. Requirements in case of bonds intended to secure future debts

(1)Except where passed, in Natal or the Orange Free State, on the authority of a power of attorney granted prior to the commencement of the Deeds Registries Act, 1918, or in the Transvaal on the authority of a power of attorney granted prior to the commencement of the Registration of Deeds and Titles Act, 1909 (Act No. 25 of 1909) of the Transvaal, which power of attorney has in either case been duly registered in terms of sub-section (2) of section fifty of the first-mentioned Act, no bond attested or registered after the commencement of this Act shall be of any force or effect for the purpose of giving preference or priority in respect of any debt incurred after the registration of the bond, unless—

(a)it is expressly stipulated in the bond that the bond is intended to secure future debts generally or some particular future debt described therein; and

(b)a sum is fixed in the bond as an amount beyond which future debts shall not be secured by the bond.

(2)If a bond purports to secure payment by the mortgagor of the costs of preserving and realising the security or of fire insurance premiums, cost of notice or bank exchange, such costs and charges shall not be deemed to be future debts within the meaning of sub-section (1).

52. Cession of bond securing future debts

No cession of any bond intended to secure future debts shall be registered unless the amount already due in respect thereof is disclosed in the cession. On registration of such cession the bond shall be deemed to be a bond securing an existing debt of the amount so disclosed and shall be endorsed accordingly.

53. Exclusion of general clause in mortgage bonds

(1)Save as provided in any other law the registrar shall not attest any mortgage bond which purports to bind movable property or which contains the clause, commonly known as the general clause, purporting to bind generally all the immovable or movable property of the debtor or both and shall not register any notarial bond which purports to bind immovable property.

(2)No mortgage bond shall be passed by two or more mortgagors unless it purports to bind immovable property of each mortgagor.

54. No bond to be passed in favour of an agent

No bond shall be passed in favour of any person as the agent of a principal.

55. Requirements in case of bonds passed by or in favour of two or more persons

(1)If a bond is passed by two or more mortgagors no release of one mortgagor or of his property from the bond may be registered without the written consent of the other mortgagor or mortgagors.

(2)No bond may be passed in favour of two or more persons in which it is stipulated that the share of one holder shall rank prior in order of preference to the share of another, nor may any transaction be registered which would have the effect of giving preference to one share in a bond over another share.

Rights of mortgagees

56. Transfer of hypothecated immovable property

(1)No transfer of mortgaged land shall be attested or executed by the registrar, and no cession of a mortgaged lease of immovable property, or of any mortgaged real right in land, shall be registered until the bond has been cancelled or the land, lease, or right has been released from the operation of the bond with the consent in writing of the holder thereof: Provided that no such cancellation or release shall be necessary if the transfer or cession is made—

(a)in execution of the judgment of any court by the competent officer; or

(b)by the trustee of an insolvent estate, an executor administering and distributing an estate under sub-section (3) of section forty-eight of the Administration of Estates Act, 1913, the liquidator of a company which is unable to pay its debts and which is being wound up by or under the supervision of the court or a liquidator or trustee elected or appointed under the Farmers’ Assistance Act, 1935; or

(c)in any other circumstances in this Act or in any other law specially provided or as ordered by the court.

(2)A consent to the release from the operation of a bond of all the property mortgaged thereunder shall, except where the debt secured by such bond is further secured by a collateral bond, be deemed to be a consent to the cancellation of that bond.

57. Substitution of debtor in respect of a bond

(1)If the owner (in this section referred to as the transferor) of land which is hypothecated under a registered mortgage bond (not being a person referred to in paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) of section fifty-six) has agreed to transfer to another person the whole of the land hypothecated thereunder, and has not reserved any real right in such land, the registrar may, notwithstanding the provisions of sub-section (1) of the said section, register the transfer and substitute the transferee for the transferor as debtor in respect of the bond: Provided that there is produced to him, in duplicate, the written consent in the prescribed form of the holder of the bond and the transferee to the substitution of the transferee for the transferor as the debtor in respect of the bond.

(2)In registering the transfer the registrar shall—

(a)make, in the appropriate register in the prescribed form—

(i)an entry setting forth that the debt of the transferor secured by the bond is cancelled; and

(ii)an entry setting forth that the transferee has become the debtor in respect of the bond;

(b)annex one duplicate of the written consent referred to in sub-section (1) to the bond and file the other with the registry duplicate thereof;

(c)endorse upon the bond in the prescribed form—

(i)the name of the transferee;

(ii)the date and number of the transfer;

(iii)a reference to the said written consent; and

(iv)that the transferee has been substituted for the transferor as debtor in respect of the bond; and

(d)make on the transfer deed an endorsement of mortgage containing the date and number of the bond and the amount due in terms thereof.

(3)As from the date of the transfer deed the transferor shall be absolved from any obligation secured by the bond and the transferee shall be substituted for him as the debtor in respect of such bond and shall be bound by the terms thereof in the same manner as if he had himself passed the bond and had renounced therein the benefit of all relevant exceptions.

(4)The provisions of this section shall not apply if the mortgaged land is to be transferred—

(a)to a person who would not himself be competent to mortgage it; or

(b)to two or more persons, unless they take transfer of the land in undivided shares and renounce, in the written consent referred to in sub-section (1) the exception de duobus vel pluribus reis debendi; or

(c)to a married woman, unless she renounces, in the said written consent, any special legal exceptions which she would otherwise be entitled to raise.

58. Returns by master in connection with insolvent estates and further provisions relative to insolvent estates

(1)If it appears from the liquidation account of any estate which has been sequestrated or from the vouchers relating thereto that a payment has been made to any creditor on account of a registered bond, the Master shall notify the payment to the registrar who shall thereupon write off the amount thereof in the appropriate register, on the registry duplicate of the bond and also if possible on the original bond. The holder of the bond shall deliver the bond to the Master, who shall forward it to the registrar in order that the amount paid may be written off thereon.

(2)Except in cases where an insolvent has been rehabilitated in pursuance of a composition made by him with his creditors, the Master shall from time to time transmit to the registrar a return specifying—

(a)the name and address of every person who has been rehabilitated after the sequestration of his estate; and

(b)the immovable property and registered bonds appearing in the schedules lodged with the Master by or on behalf of such person or in the liquidation account of his estate;

and upon receipt of that return the registrar shall, in accordance therewith, cancel in the appropriate registers all bonds registered therein against the property of the said person prior to the sequestration of his estate and endorse the registry duplicates and, if possible, also the bonds themselves as cancelled. The holders of such bonds shall when requested to do so by the Master, deliver the bonds to him, and the Master shall forward them to the registrar for cancellation.

(3)If any of the immovable property mentioned in the return has not yet been transferred by the trustee, the registrar shall further note on the registry duplicate of the title deed of such property and in the appropriate registers that such property has in terms of the law relating to insolvency vested in the trustee.

(4)Immovable property which has vested in a trustee in accordance with the provisions of the law relating to insolvency and which has not in terms of that law been re-vested in the insolvent may, whether before or after rehabilitation of the insolvent, be transferred only by the trustee, and may not after such rehabilitation be transferred, mortgaged or otherwise dealt with by the insolvent until it has been transferred to him by the trustee: Provided that if after rehabilitation, the trustee has been discharged or there is no trustee in existence, the Master shall, if satisfied that the rehabilitated insolvent is entitled to the property, give him transfer thereof in such manner as may be prescribed.

(5)If by virtue of the provisions of the law relating to insolvency an insolvent has been re-invested with the ownership of any property, such property may not be transferred, mortgaged or otherwise dealt with by the insolvent until an endorsement, in the manner prescribed, that the property has been restored to him, has been made by the registrar on the title deed of the property.

(6)Nothing in this section contained shall be construed as modifying any provision of the law relating to insolvency.

(7)The provisions of this section shall apply mutatis mutandis in respect of—

(a)estates administered and distributed under section forty-eight of the Administration of Estates Act, 1913;

(b)companies which are unable to pay their debts and are liquidated or wound up by or under the supervision of the court under the law relating to companies; and

(c)assets of an applicant under the Farmers’ Assistance Act, 1935, which are administered by a liquidator or trustee who has received from the Master a certificate mentioned in section seventeen of the said Act.

59. Endorsement of bond after sale in execution

Whenever any mortgaged immovable property has been sold in execution of a judgment of a competent court or under express authority contained in a special law, to satisfy any debt due in respect of a registered bond or otherwise, and the proceeds of the sale have been paid to the legal holder of the bond, the sheriff or deputy sheriff or messenger concerned or the person acting under the authority of such special law shall notify to the registrar how much of the capital sum due in terms of the bond has been paid, and shall transmit the bond to the registrar. The registrar shall thereupon write off the amount so paid in the appropriate registers and on the bond and registry duplicate thereof.

60. Consent of bond holder to registration of merger of rights of mortgagor

If the holder of a mortgaged lease of land or of mortgaged real rights in land acquires the ownership of that land, or if the holder of a mortgaged lease of real rights in land acquires those rights, or if the owner of mortgaged land which is entitled to rights of servitude over other land, acquires the ownership of that other land, such acquisition of the additional land or rights shall not be registered without the consent in writing of the holder of the bond.

Notarial bonds

61. Registration of notarial bonds

(1)Every notarial bond executed before or after the commencement of this Act shall be tendered for registration in a deeds registry within the period of two months after the date of its execution or within such extended period as the court may on application allow. Unless so tendered, or if so tendered and rejected by the registrar and not re-tendered within the said period, a notarial bond shall not be registered except upon an order of court and within such further period as the court may direct: Provided that if the registrar suspends or refuses registration pending the submission of further information in order to enable him to determine whether any person mentioned in the bond is or is not a person whose name appears in any register or document in the deeds registry concerned, such suspension or refusal shall not be deemed to be a rejection of the bond.

(2)A signed original for filing in the registry as the registry duplicate, together with a further original or a grosse or a copy of the bond certified by a notary public shall be tendered for registration.

(3)Every notarial bond shall disclose—

(a)the place at and the date on which it was executed, as well as the place where the notary practises; and

(b)the place where the debtor resides and the place or places, if any, where he carries on business.

(4)A notarial bond shall be deemed to be registered at the time when the entry thereof is made in the appropriate register.

62. Where notarial bond is to be registered

(1)Every notarial bond shall be registered in the deeds registry for the area in which the debtor resides and carries on business, or if he resides and carries on business in areas served by different deeds registries, in the deeds registry for the area in which he resides and in every deeds registry serving any area in which he carries on business.

(2)No notarial bond shall be of any force or effect as against any person who is not a party thereto, unless it has been registered in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1).

(3)Registration of a notarial bond in accordance with the provisions of the said sub-section shall be effective as registration for the whole Union.

(4)A notarial bond which is required to be registered in more than one deeds registry shall be registered in the first registry within the period prescribed in section sixty-one, in the second registry within an additional period of one month after the date of registration in the first registry, and in each successive further registry within a further period of one month after the date on which it was last registered in any registry.

(5)The provisions of sub-section (2) of section sixty-one shall apply in respect of the registration in the first registry. For the purpose of registration in the other registries it shall be sufficient if the original bond registered in the first registry is produced together with a further duplicate or grosse or a copy thereof certified by a notary public for filing in the registry concerned.

Chapter VI
Rights in immovable property

General provisions

63. Restriction on registration of rights in immovable property

(1)No deed, or condition in a deed, purporting to create or embodying any personal right in respect of immovable property shall be capable of registration.

(2)No condition imposed after the commencement of this Act, purporting to restrict the exercise of any right of ownership in respect of immovable property shall be included in any title deed of such property tendered for registration in any deeds registry, unless such condition is capable of being enforced by some person who is mentioned in, or if not mentioned therein, is ascertainable from the said title deed or from other evidence available to the registrar.

64. Certificates of registered real rights

(1)Any person who either before or after the commencement of this Act has transferred land subject to the reservation of any real right in his favour (other than a right to minerals) may on application in writing to the registrar accompanied by the title deed of the land obtain a certificate of registration of that real right as nearly as practicable in the prescribed form.

(2)Such person shall not separately mortgage or otherwise deal with such right or transfer a share thereof (if transferable) unless he has obtained such certificate in the manner aforesaid.

(3)The provisions of sub-sections (2) to (4) inclusive of section thirty-seven shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of such certificate.

Personal servitudes

65. Registration of notarial deed creating personal servitude

(1)A notarial deed creating a personal servitude shall be executed by the owner of the land encumbered thereby and the person in whose favour it is created: Provided that in the case of a servitude in favour of the public or of all or some of the owners or occupiers of erven or lots in a township or settlement, the registrar may, if in his opinion it is impracticable to require such deed to be executed by the persons in whose favour the servitude is created, register such deed notwithstanding the fact that it has not been executed by such persons.

(2)Such deed shall contain a sufficient description of the land encumbered by the servitude and shall mention the title deed of such land.

(3)For the registration of such a deed a signed original of the deed to be filed as the registry duplicate, together with such further originals or grosses or copies certified by a notary public as may be prescribed shall be produced, accompanied by the title deed of the land, and, if the land is mortgaged, by the bond and the consent in writing of the legal holder thereof, to the registration of the servitude free of the bond.

66. Restriction on registration of personal servitudes

No personal servitude of usufruct, usus or habitatio purporting to extend beyond the lifetime of the person in whose favour it is created shall be registered, nor may a transfer or cession of such personal servitude to any person other than the owner of the land encumbered thereby, be registered.

67. Reservation of personal servitudes

A personal servitude may be reserved by condition in a deed of transfer of land, if the reservation is in favour of the transferor, or in favour of the transferor and his spouse or the survivor of them, if they are married in community of property, or in favour of the surviving spouse if transfer is passed from the joint estate of spouses who were married in community off property.

68. Registration of lapse of personal servitude

(1)If for any reason a personal servitude has lapsed, the registrar shall, on written application by or on behalf of the owner of the land encumbered thereby, accompanied by proof of the lapse of the servitude, the title deed of the land and, if available, the title deed, if any, of the servitude (which title deed the holder of the servitude shall on demand hand over to the owner of such land) note on the title deed of the land and of the servitude, if the title deed of the servitude has been produced, that the servitude has lapsed.

(2)Cancellation of the registration of a personal servitude in pursuance of an agreement between the owner of the land encumbered and the holder of the servitude shall be effected by notarial deed: Provided that no such deed shall be registered if the servitude is mortgaged, unless the mortgagee consents in writing to the cancellation of the bond or the release of the servitude from its operation.

69. Transfer and mortgage of land with personal servitude thereon

(1)If the owner of land subject to a personal servitude and the holder of that servitude have disposed of the land or any portion thereof together with the rights of servitude to another person, they may together give transfer thereof to the person acquiring it.

(2)The transfer deed shall describe the transferors as the owner of the land and holder of the servitude respectively, but no mention of the servitude shall be made in the description of the land therein.

(3)The owner of land subject to a personal servitude and the holder of that servitude may together mortgage the land to the full extent of their respective rights therein.

(4)The owner of the land and the holder of the servitude may either of them as principal debtor mortgage the land or the servitude respectively and the other of them may in the same bond mortgage the servitude or the land as surety.

Rights to minerals

70. Separation from ownership of rights to minerals

(1)Rights to minerals may be separated from the ownership of land by reservation under section seventy-one or seventy-two in a condition contained in a transfer of such land or by exclusion from a partition of such land in terms of section seventy-three or by cession of those rights by the owner of the land to another person.

(2)Such separation from the ownership may take place in respect of a portion of a registered piece of land, or of a share in the whole or a portion of a registered piece of land, and may be in respect of all minerals generally, or of a particular mineral or minerals.

71. Certificates of reservation of rights to minerals

(1)Any person who transfers land subject to a reservation in his favour of rights to minerals thereon, or on whose land a township or settlement is established subject to such reservation, shall simultaneously with the passing of transfer or the opening of a register in a deeds registry for such township or settlement, as the case may be, take out a certificate of rights to minerals in the prescribed form in respect of the rights so reserved; where the register has been opened, a certificate may be taken out in respect of the remainder of the township or settlement upon a certificate from the surveyor general as to the remainder.

(2)

(a)Upon the written application to the registrar of any person who has, before the commencement of this Act, transferred land subject to a reservation in his favour of rights to minerals thereon and who is the holder of such rights, the registrar shall, on production of the title deed under which that land is held, issue to such person a certificate of rights to minerals in the prescribed form in respect of the rights so reserved.

(b)The holder of the title deed shall upon the demand and at the expense of the applicant produce the title deed to the registrar.

(3)Any person who transfers land in the manner described in sub-section (1) or who is an applicant under sub-section (2) shall, if the registrar so requires, lodge with him a diagram showing the area in respect of which the rights to minerals are reserved.

(4)A certificate of rights to minerals referred to in subsection (1) or (2) shall—

(a)set forth the rights to minerals to which it relates and any rights ancillary to such rights;

(b)be signed by the registrar and be registered against the title deeds of the land in respect of which such rights to minerals have been reserved, and when so signed and registered shall be the title to the said rights to minerals.

(5)If the rights to minerals are subject to a registered mortgage bond, lease or other deed affecting such rights, the said certificate shall not be issued except upon production of the bond, lease or other deed, and the registrar shall, when issuing the certificate, endorse—

(a)upon the bond, lease or other deed that a certificate of rights to minerals has been substituted for the title under which such rights were formerly held; and

(b)upon the certificate of rights to minerals that these rights have been hypothecated, leased or otherwise dealt with in accordance with such bond, lease or other deed,

and shall make the necessary entries in the registers; and thereupon the said rights to minerals shall be deemed to be as fully and effectually hypothecated, leased or otherwise dealt with as if they were still held under the former title.

(6)No rights to minerals reserved before the commencement of this Act and still held under the title deed of the land shall, until a certificate of rights to minerals has been issued in respect thereof, be hypothecated, leased or dealt with otherwise than by way of cession of all such rights.

72. Certificate of rights to minerals reserved by Crown

The provisions of section seventy-one shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of a grant of land by the Crown made subject to a reservation of rights to minerals in favour of the Crown.

73. Exclusion of rights to minerals from partition of land

(1)If in any partition of land held in joint ownership the agreement of partition excludes from partition any rights to minerals in the land, the partition transfers shall set forth that exclusion.

(2)If rights to minerals are excluded from partition in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) there shall be lodged with the registrar together with the deeds of partition, a certificate or certificates of rights to minerals in the prescribed form in respect of the rights so excluded.

74. Undivided share of rights to minerals

The provisions of sub-section (1) of section thirty-four shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of persons who jointly hold a certificate or deed of cession of rights to minerals.

Praedial servitudes

75. Creation of praedial servitude by notarial deed

(1)A praedial servitude may be created by means of a deed executed by the owners of the dominant and servient tenements and attested by a notary public.

(2)If the servient tenement is mortgaged or subject to any other real right with which the servitude may conflict the bond or other registered deed by which such right is held shall be produced together with the consent in writing of the legal holder thereof to the registration of the servitude.

(3)The provisions of sub-sections (2) and (3) of section sixty-five shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of praedial servitudes.

76. Conditions of registration of praedial servitudes

(1)A praedial servitude may be created in a transfer of land only if the servitude is imposed on the land transferred in favour of other land registered in the name of the transferor, or is imposed in favour of the land transferred on other land registered in the name of the transferor: Provided that if—

(a)the land to be transferred is admitted by the person seeking to pass transfer thereof to be subject to unregistered rights of servitude in favour of land registered in a third person’s name; and

(b)the person to whom the transfer is to be passed had knowledge of the existence of the said rights of servitude at the time when he acquired the right to the land or consents in writing to such servitude being embodied in the transfer; and

(c)such third person appears either in person or by duly authorized agent before the registrar at the time of execution of the transfer and accepts the servitude in favour of his land,

the servitude may he embodied in such transfer. The appearance of such third person as aforesaid and his acceptance of the servitude shall be recited in the deed of transfer and the title deed of the dominant tenement shall be produced for endorsement thereon of the terms of the servitude.

(2)If the servitude is imposed on other land in favour of the land to be transferred, and that other land is mortgaged or is subject to any other registered real right with which the servitude may conflict, the consent in writing of the legal holder of the bond or of such other right, to the registration of the servitude shall be produced, together with the bond or other deed evidencing such other right and the title deed of the servient tenement.

(3)In registering the deed of transfer in which the servitude is embodied the registrar shall endorse the terms of the servitude and the number and date of the transfer on the title deed of the other tenement and if a bond or other deed is produced, as aforesaid, also thereon.

Leases

77. Registration of leases and sub-leases

(1)Save where provision to the contrary is made in any law, any lease or sub-lease of land or of any rights to minerals in land and any cession of such a lease or sub-lease intended or required to be registered in a deeds registry, shall be executed by the lessor and the lessee or by the lessee and the sub-lessee or by the cedent and the cessionary, as the case may be, and shall be attested by a notary public.

(2)If the land or right leased or sub-leased is mortgaged or subject to rights of any other person it shall not be necessary for purposes of registration of the lease or sub-lease or any cession thereof to produce the bond or the other deed whereby such rights are held or the consent of the legal holder thereof.

78. Termination of registered lease

(1)When a registered lease or sub-lease has terminated the registrar shall on written application by the owner of the land affected thereby, or the holder of the lease, as the case may be, accompanied by proof of the termination of the lease or sub-lease and, in the case of the termination of the lease, by the title deed of the land and if available the deed of lease, or in the case of the termination of the sub-lease, by the deed of lease and if available the deed of sub-lease, note in the case of the termination of the lease, on the title deed of the land and on the deed of lease, if produced, or in the case of the termination of the sub-lease, upon the deed of lease and upon the deed of sub-lease, if produced, that the lease or sub-lease as the case may be, has terminated.

(2)If the full term, including periods of renewal, of a registered lease or sub-lease has expired no further transactions affecting that lease or sub-lease shall be registered.

79. Where lease to be registered

Save where provision to the contrary is made in any law, any lease of immovable property which is registered in the name of the lessor in a deeds registry may be registered in that registry and any sub-lease of any lease so registered may be registered in that registry.

80. Cessions of leases and sub-leases

No cession of a lease or sub-lease shall be registered in any deeds registry unless the lease or sub-lease has been registered therein.

81. Hypothecation of leases and sub-leases

No hypothecation of a lease or sub-lease shall be registered in any deeds registry unless such hypothecation is effected by means of—

(a)a mortgage bond, if the lease or sub-lease is immovable property; or

(b)a notarial bond, if the lease or sub-lease is not immovable property.

82. Notarial bonds hypothecating leases or sub-leases

(1)For the registration of a notarial bond specially hypothecating a registered lease or sub-lease the deed of lease shall be produced to the registrar.

(2)In registering such bond the registrar shall endorse on the deed that the lease or sub-lease has been hypothecated by the bond.

(3)The provisions of sub-section (1) of section fifty-six shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of any lease or sub-lease so hypothecated.

83. Hypothecation of land settlement lease after exercise of option to purchase

(1)If in any lease entered into under any law relating to land settlement the lessee is given the option to purchase the property leased or any portion thereof, and he has exercised the option, the rights to the property so acquired by the lessee may, if the lease is registered in a deeds registry and is not subject to an existing bond, be hypothecated by a notarial bond.

(2)The provisions of section eighty-two shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of the registration of such a bond.

(3)If such lease is subject to an existing bond at the date of the exercise of the option the rights acquired by the exercise of such option shall be subject to such bond.

Prospecting contracts

84. Registration of prospecting contracts

(1)If the prospecting rights granted under a prospecting contract are granted for a defined period with a right of renewal for any further period, registration of the contract shall be effective for that defined period only: Provided that if the holder of prospecting rights so granted under a registered prospecting contract lodges such contract at the deeds registry before the expiration of the said defined period together with an affidavit in terms of sub-section (2), or within one month after the expiration of the defined period together with the grantor’s written consent to such endorsement, the registrar shall endorse upon the register of prospecting contracts and upon the contract and the registry duplicate thereof a statement that the said holder claims to have exercised his right of renewal for the period mentioned in the said affidavit, and the endorsement so made shall, as from the date thereof, be effective notice of the claim to all interested persons, other than the grantor of the prospecting rights, whose written consent to such endorsement has not been produced.

(2)The affidavit referred to in sub-section (1) shall be made by the holder of the prospecting rights under a registered prospecting contract or by his duly authorized agent, and shall state that the holder has fulfilled all such conditions of the contract as entitled him to a renewal of the contract and that he has duly exercised his right to renew the same.

(3)If at the time when a prospecting contract is tendered for registration the defined period for which the prospecting rights were granted thereunder has already expired but a further period for which there is a right of renewal has not yet expired, the registrar shall upon the application of the person who was the holder of the prospecting rights under such contract and with the consent in writing of the grantor of those rights, register the contract, and the registration shall then be effective in respect of the period for which it is claimed that the contract has been renewed.

(4)If a document purporting to be a prospecting contract contains any ambiguity and such document is in the opinion of the registrar liable to be interpreted as constituting a grant or lease of a right to minerals, the registrar may register that document as a prospecting contract if a supplementary document executed by all the parties to the first mentioned document or by their assigns, or affidavits by such parties, explaining the purport and effect of the prospecting contract are lodged at the deeds registry, and such document or every such affidavit shall thereafter be deemed to form part of the prospecting contract to which it relates.

(5)For the purposes of this section the grantor of prospecting rights means the person who from the records in the deeds registry appears to be the holder of the rights to minerals in the land in question.

85. Cancellation of registration on expiry of prospecting contract or failure to renew

(1)Upon the written request of the grantor of prospecting rights under a prospecting contract—

(a)the registration of which has under section eighty-four ceased to be of effect; or

(b)to the renewal of which no claim has been lodged at the deeds registry, or which, if such a claim has been lodged, has lapsed by effluxion of time,

the registrar shall cancel the entries in the registers relating to the contract and the endorsement of the contract upon the grantor’s title deed of the land or the rights to minerals affected by that contract.

(2)For the purposes of this section the grantor of prospecting rights means the person who from the records in the deeds registry appears to be the holder of the rights to minerals in the land, in question.

Chapter VII
Antenuptial contracts

86. Antenuptial contracts to be registered

An antenuptial contract executed before and not registered at the commencement of this Act or executed after the commencement of this Act, shall be registered in the manner and within the time mentioned in section eighty-seven, and unless so registered shall be of no force or effect as against any person who is not a party thereto.

87. Manner and time of registration of antenuptial contracts

(1)An antenuptial contract executed in the Union shall not be registered unless it has been attested by a notary public and unless it has been tendered for registration in a deeds registry within two months after the date of its execution or within such extended period as the court may on application allow.

(2)An antenuptial contract executed outside the Union shall not be registered unless it has been attested by a notary public or has been otherwise entered into in accordance with the law of the place of execution and unless it has been tendered for registration in a deeds registry within six months after the date of its execution or the commencement of this Act, whichever may be the later date, or within such extended period as the court may on application allow.

(3)Unless an antenuptial contract has been tendered for registration in terms of sub-section (1) or (2), or if so tendered and rejected by the registrar and not re-tendered within the respective periods prescribed in the said sub-sections, the contract shall not be registered except upon an order of court and within such further period as the court may direct: Provided that if the registrar suspends or refuses registration pending the submission of further information in order to enable him to determine whether any party to the contract is or is not a person whose name appears in any register or document in the deeds registry concerned, such suspension or refusal of registration shall not be deemed to be a rejection of the contract.

(4)A signed original contract (or an equivalent thereof according to the law of the country where it was executed) bearing the attestation of the notary public or otherwise duly authenticated as required by law, for filing of record as the registry duplicate, and a further signed original, similarly attested or authenticated, or a grosse or a copy of the original contract certified by a notary public, shall be tendered for registration.

(5)Registration of an antenuptial contract in any one deeds registry in the manner prescribed in this section shall be effective as registration for the whole Union: Provided that if any transaction in connection with which evidence of such contract is necessary takes place in a deeds registry other than that in which such contract has been registered, a copy of such contract certified by the registrar of the place of registration or a notary public shall be filed in such first-mentioned deeds registry.

88. Postnuptial execution of antenuptial agreement

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections eighty-six and eighty-seven the court may, subject to such conditions as it may deem desirable, authorize postnuptial execution of a notarial contract having the effect of an antenuptial contract, if the terms thereof were agreed upon between the intended spouses before the marriage, and may order the registration, within a specified period, of any contract so executed.

89. Registration of postnuptial contracts in Natal

The provisions of sections eighty-six and sub-sections (1) to (4) inclusive of section eighty-seven shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of the registration of postnuptial contracts in the province of Natal.

Chapter VIII
Miscellaneous

90. Cancellation of registration on lapse of certain registered rights

(1)If it is expressly provided in—

(a)a registered lease of land or rights to minerals; or

(b)a registered deed creating or evidencing a servitude; or

(c)a registered prospecting contract, that it shall lapse upon failure to make regularly any periodical payments mentioned therein, the registrar shall upon written application accompanied by an affidavit by the lessor or grantor of the registered right (as the case may be) that the said periodical payments have not been duly made, cancel the registration of the lease, servitude or contract: Provided that—

(i)if the address of the lessee or grantee is stated in the registered document, or the address or any change thereof has been notified to the registrar, notice shall be given to such lessee or grantee by the applicant by prepaid registered letter that cancellation of the registration of the document is sought on the ground of failure to make the periodical payments mentioned therein, and that unless written objection to the cancellation specifying the grounds of objection is lodged with the registrar within one month, if the address is in the Union, or within three months or such further period as the registrar may in special circumstances determine, if the address is outside the Union, application will be made to the registrar for cancellation of the registration of the said document;

(ii)if the address of the lessee or grantee is not stated in the document or has not been notified to the registrar as aforesaid, the applicant shall publish the notice aforesaid once in the Gazette and twice in a newspaper published in the division or district in which the land in question is situated (or if there be no such newspaper then in any newspaper circulating in such division or district) and in a newspaper (to be indicated by the registrar) circulating in the division or district of the lessee’s or grantee’s last-known address, which shall be disclosed by the applicant in an affidavit;

(iii)if any objection is lodged which, in the registrar’s opinion, discloses reasonable ground for refusing cancellation of the registration, he shall not cancel it until the objection is withdrawn or falls away or cancellation is ordered by the court;

(iv)if any of the rights to be cancelled are mortgaged, notice in writing shall be given by the applicant by prepaid registered letter to the mortgagee of the intention to cancel such rights, before the cancellation is effected.

(2)For the purposes of this section the lessor or grantor means—

(a)in the case of a registered lease of land or a registered deed of servitude, the person who from the records in the deeds registry appears to be the owner of the land concerned; and

(b)in the case of a registered lease of rights to minerals or a registered prospecting contract, the person who from the records in the deeds registry appears to be the holder of the rights to minerals referred to in such lease or prospecting contract.

91. Transfer and cessation not to be passed as security

No transfer of land and no cession of any registered lease or sub-lease or other real right in land made as security for a debt or obligation shall be attested by any registrar or registered in any deeds registry.

92. Taxes and transfer duty to be paid before transfer of land

(1)No deed of grant or transfer of land shall be registered unless accompanied by a receipt or certificate of a competent public revenue officer that the taxes, duties, fees and quitrent (if any) payable to the Government or any provincial administration on the property to be granted or transferred have been paid.

(2)If land or any real right in land has been settled upon or donated to an intended spouse in terms of an antenuptial contract, no transfer or cession of such land or right by the donor to any person other than the donee and no mortgage thereof by the donor shall be executed, attested or registered by the registrar unless the transfer duty (if any) payable on the settlement or donation has been paid.

93. Registration of change of name

(1)If any person or partnership, whose name appears in any registered deed or other document has changed his or its name, the registrar shall, upon written application by that person or partnership, and on production of the consent in writing of every other person interested in such deed or other document or in the rights created, conveyed or evidenced thereby, if he is satisfied that no change of person in law is implied in such change of name, endorse on the said deed or other document that the name of the person or partnership has been changed to the name stated in the application: Provided that—

(a)if the old name appears in another deed or other document registered in the same registry, that deed or other document shall be likewise endorsed, and in either case corresponding entries shall be made in the registers;

(b)the registrar shall, except in the case of a person or partnership whose name has been changed in accordance with the provisions of any law, refuse to make the endorsements until he has, at the expense of the applicant, published a notice of the application once in the Gazette and three times in a newspaper approved by him;

(c)if any objection, which is in the opinion of the registrar bona fide and sufficiently material, is not later than one week after the last publication in the Gazette or newspaper, whichever may be the later publication, lodged with the registrar to the endorsement being made, the registrar may refuse to make the endorsement except upon the authority of an order of court, and the court shall have jurisdiction to make such order in the matter as it may deem just.

(2)No change in the name of any immovable property shall be recorded in a deeds registry.

94. Women witnesses of deeds

Any female person who would, if she were a male person, be competent to witness any document intended for registration or filing or production in a deeds registry, shall be competent to witness any such document, and any such document which was witnessed before the commencement of this Act by a female person, shall be as valid as if she had been a male person.

95. Attestation of powers of attorney executed in the Union

(1)Any power of attorney executed within the Union shall, if it purports to give authority to pass, cede, amend or cancel a deed capable of being registered or to perform any act proper to be performed in a deeds registry, be attested either by two witnesses above the age of fourteen years, competent to give evidence in any court of law in the Union, or by a magistrate, justice of the peace, commissioner of oaths or notary public, duly described as such: Provided that no person shall be competent to attest any power of attorney under which he is appointed as an agent or derives any benefit.

(2)Notwithstanding anything contained in section fifty-six of the Registration of Deeds and Titles Act, 1909 (Act No. 25 of 1909) of the Transvaal, a power of attorney for use in the mining titles office in Johannesburg may be attested in the manner provided in sub-section (1).

96. Execution of deeds by prospective owners

If any deed or document required to be executed by the owner of immovable property has been executed by a person who has acquired the right to receive transfer or cession of such property, such deed or document shall, upon the person aforesaid receiving transfer or cession of such property, for the purposes of this Act be deemed to have been executed by the owner of such property.

97. Notice to registrar of application to court

Before any application is made to the court for authority or an order involving the performance of any act in a deeds registry, the applicant shall give the registrar concerned at least seven days’ notice before the hearing of such application and such registrar may submit to the court such report thereon as he may deem desirable to make.

98. Substituted copy of lost deed supersedes original which must be surrendered on recovery

(1)If a copy of a registered deed or other document has been issued, in manner prescribed by regulation, in substitution of a deed or other document which has been lost or is believed to have been destroyed, the original deed or other document, if still in existence, shall thereupon become void.

(2)If a deed or other document which has become void as aforesaid, comes into the possession or custody of any person who knows that a copy has been issued in substitution thereof, he shall forthwith deliver or transmit such deed or other document to the registrar concerned.

99. Exemption from liability for acts or omissions in deeds registry

No act or omission of any registrar or of any officer employed in a deeds registry shall render the Government or such registrar or officer liable for damage sustained by any person in consequence of such act or omission: Provided that if such act or omission is mala fide or if such registrar or officer has not exercised reasonable care and diligence in carrying out his duties in connection with such act or omission, the Government shall be liable for the damage aforesaid: Provided further that the registrar or officer guilty of such act or omission shall be liable to make good any loss or damage resulting therefrom to the Government if such act or omission was mala fide.

100. Formal defects

No act in connection with any registration in a deeds registry shall be invalidated by any formal defect, whether such defect occurs in any deed passed or registered, or in any document upon the authority of which any such deed has been passed or registered or which is required to be produced in connection with the passing or registration of such deed, unless a substantial injustice has by such act been done which in the opinion of the court cannot be remedied by any order of the court.

101. Special provisions relating to Vryburg deeds registry

(1)The practice prevailing prior to the commencement of the Deeds Registries Act, 1918, in the deeds registry at Vryburg of transferring or mortgaging land held under a certificate of ownership issued by the administrator of the territory known as British Bechuanaland prior to its annexation to the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, and which was declared by that Act to be legal and of effect, shall continue to be legal and of effect. Provided that—

(a)the provisions of this Act shall apply in respect of any transfer, partition transfer, certificate of title, mortgage or other deed sought to be registered in respect of any land so held;

(b)no transfer of or other form of title to or mortgage of any defined portion of a piece of land so held shall be registered unless the surveyor-general concerned has certified that the boundaries of such piece of land are correctly represented on the diagram thereof;

(c)if the surveyor-general is unable to certify as aforesaid the provisions of sections forty, forty-one and forty-four shall mutatis mutandis apply, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other law contained.

(2)The provisional registration in the deeds registry at Vryburg of any cession or assignment of rights to unascertained or unsurveyed land, prescribed by Government Notice (British Bechuanaland) of the thirteenth day of November, 1886, shall continue to be of force in respect of land to which a right of ownership was acquired prior to the annexation of British Bechuanaland to the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, until such time as a grant of such land has been registered.

102. Definitions

In this Act unless inconsistent with the context—"conveyancer" means, in respect of any deeds registry, a person practising as such in the province within which that deeds registry is situate and includes every person who at the commencement of the Deeds Registries Act, 1918, was authorized by law to prepare deeds of transfer and mortgage bonds within such area;"court" or "the court" means the provincial or local division of the Supreme Court having jurisdiction or any judge thereof;"deeds registry" means—(a)when used in relation to immovable property, the deeds registry which serves the area in which that property is situate;(b)when used in relation to any deed or other document, any deeds registry in the Union wherein that deed, or other document is registered or registrable;(c)when used in relation to a registrar, the deeds registry of which he is in charge, but does not include the mining titles office referred to in section three of the Registration of Deeds and Titles Act, 1909 (Act No. 25 of 1909) of the Transvaal;"diagram" means a diagram which has been signed by a person recognized by law as a land surveyor, and which has been approved or certified by a surveyor-general or other officer empowered under any law so to approve or certify a diagram and includes a diagram or a copy thereof prepared in a surveyor-general’s office and approved or certified as aforesaid, or a diagram which has at any time prior to the commencement of this Act been accepted for registration in a deeds registry or surveyor-general’s office;"erf" means every piece of land registered as an erf, lot, plot or stand in a deeds registry, and includes every defined portion, not intended to be a public place, of a piece of land laid out as a township, whether or not it has been formally recognized, approved or proclaimed as such;"general plan" means a plan which represents the relative positions and dimensions of two or more pieces of land and has been signed by a person recognized by law as a land surveyor, and which has been approved or certified as a general plan by a surveyor-general or other officer empowered under any law so to approve or certify a general plan, and includes a general plan or copy thereof prepared in a surveyor-general’s office and approved or certified as aforesaid, or a general plan which has at any time, prior to the commencement of this Act, been accepted for registration in a deeds registry or surveyor-general’s office;"immovable property" includes—(a)any registered lease of rights to minerals; and(b)any registered lease of land which, when entered into, was for a period of not less than ten years or for the natural life of the lessee or any other person mentioned in the lease, or which is renewable from time to time at the will of the lessee indefinitely or for periods which together with the first period amount in all to not less than ten years;"land" includes an undivided share in land;"Master" means the Master or Assistant Master of any provincial or local division of the Supreme Court and when used in relation to any particular matter means the Master or Assistant Master who has jurisdiction in respect thereof;"Minister" means the Minister of Lands or any other Minister of State to whom the Governor-General may from time to time assign the administration of this Act, or any Minister of State acting in the stead of any such Minister;"mortgage bond" means a bond attested by the registrar specially hypothecating immovable property;"notarial bond" means a bond attested by a notary public hypothecating movable property generally or specially;"notarial deed" means a deed attested by a notary public, and does not include a document a signature to which is merely authenticated by a notary public, or a copy of a document which has been certified as correct by a notary public;"notary public" means, in relation to any deed or other document creating or conveying real rights in land, a person practising as such in the province within which the land is registered; in relation to any other document executed within the Union, a person practising as such in any province; and in relation to any document executed outside the Union, a person practising as such in the place where the document is executed;"owner" in relation to immovable property means the person registered as the owner or holder thereof and includes the trustee in an insolvent estate, a liquidator or trustee elected or appointed under the Farmers’ Assistance Act, 1935, the liquidator of a company which is an owner and the representative recognized by law of any owner who has died or who is a minor or of unsound mind or is otherwise under disability: Provided that such trustee, liquidator or legal representative is acting within the authority conferred on him by law;"prescribed" means prescribed by this Act or any regulation ;"prospecting contract" means a notarial deed whereby the owner of land from which the right to minerals has not been excluded, or the registered holder of the right to minerals in land, grants the right to prospect and seek for any mineral or minerals in the land, together with—(a)the right to purchase the land or any portion thereof or to purchase the right to any such mineral or minerals; or(b)the right to lease any right to any such mineral or minerals;"real right" includes any right which becomes a real right upon registration;"registered" means registered in a deeds registry;"registrar" means a registrar of deeds appointed under this Act, and, when used in relation to any deeds registry means the registrar in charge of that deeds registry; and when used in relation to a document means the registrar in charge of the deeds registry wherein that document is registered or registrable or intended to be used or filed;"registry duplicate" means the counterpart or copy of a deed, consisting of more than one copy which is filed or intended to be filed of record in a deeds registry;"regulation" means a regulation made under section ten;"share" in relation to land means undivided share ;"settlement" means a group of pieces of land or of sub-divisions of a piece of land which are used or intended for use mainly for farming or horticulture, and includes a combination of such groups which is suitable for registration in one register;"this Act" includes the regulations made under section ten;"township" includes—(a)a group of pieces of land, or of sub-divisions of a piece of land, which are combined with public places and are used mainly for residential, industrial or similar purposes, or are intended to be so used;(b)any combination of such groups which is suitable for registration in one register;(c)any area of land registered or recognized at the commencement of this Act in a deeds registry as a township if a general plan thereof is filed in that deeds registry or in the office of the surveyor-general concerned; and(d)any township established, approved, proclaimed or otherwise recognised as such under any law.

103. Repeal of laws

(1)The laws specified in the First Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent set out in the fourth column of that Schedule.

(2)The Governor-General may, by proclamation in the Gazette, repeal any provision—

(a)of Proclamation No. 35 of 1902, Ordinance No. 6 of 1902 or Ordinance No. 6 of 1903 of the Transvaal or of any regulation made thereunder, which is, by virtue of section one of Act No. 29 of 1908 of the Transvaal, still in force; or

(b)of Law No. 15 of 1898 of the Transvaal which is, by virtue of sub-section (1) of section three of Act No. 34 of 1908 of the Transvaal, still in force.

104. Short title and commencement of Act

This Act shall be called the Deeds Registries Act, 1937, and shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by the Governor-General by proclamation in the Gazette.

First Schedule

Laws repealed

Province	No. and year of law	Title or subject of law	Extent of repeal
Cape of Good Hope.	Placaat dated the 22nd day of April, 1793.	Regulation for the prevention of confusion in the Debt Registry.	The whole.
Cape of Good Hope.	Placaat dated the 15th day of May, 1805.	Reform of the Debt Registry.	So much as is unrepealed.
"	Ordinance No. 27 of 1846.	Ordinance for amending the law relative to conventional hypothecations.	So much as is unrepealed.
"	Act No. 25 of 1894.	Glen Grey Act, 1894	Section seventeen so far as it requires registration of transfer by the registrar of deeds at Cape Town only.
Natal	Law No. 22 of 1863.	To prevent community of goods attaching to certain marriages and to enable the spouses of such marriages to devise their properties.	Sections two and seven so far as they prescribe the payment of a fee of £1 for the registration of a contract, and section seven so far as it permits the registration of non-notarial postnuptial and antenuptial contracts.
"	Law No. 14 of 1882.	To amend Law 22 of 1863.	Sections one and two so far as they permit the registration of non-notarial antenuptial contracts
"	Law No. 19 of 1884.	To amend the law and practice of registration.	Sections three, jour and eight.
Transvaal	Act No. 25 of 1909.	Registration of Deeds and Titles Act, 1909.	Section fifty-five so far as it relates to the deeds registries in the Transvaal.
Union	Act No. 13 of 1918.	Deeds Registries Act, 1918.	The whole.
	Act No. 15 of 1922.	Deeds Registries Act, 1918, Amendment Act, 1922.	The whole.

Second Schedule

The areas served by the several deeds registries shall be:—

(a)by the deeds registry at Cape Town, the Province of the Cape of Good Hope, exclusive of the area Served by the deeds registries at Kingwilliamstown, Kimberley and Vryburg;

(b)by the deeds registry at Kingwilliamstown, the territory known as British Kaffraria, defined by Proclamation of the High Commissioner dated 23rd December, 1847, comprising the divisions of Kingwilliamstown, East London, Komgha, Stutterheim and portions of the divisions of Cathcart and Victoria East;

(c)by the deeds registry at Kimberley, the divisions of Kimberley, Barkly West, Hay and Herbert, together with that portion of the division of Prieska which is situate to the North of the Orange River;

(d)by the deeds registry at Vryburg, the divisions of Vryburg, Mafeking, Gordonia, Kuruman and Taungs;

(e)by the deeds registry at Pietermaritzburg, the Province of Natal;

(f)by the deeds registry at Pretoria, the Province of the Transvaal;

(g)by the deeds registry at Bloemfontein, the Province of the Orange Free State.

(h)by the Rand townships registration office, the mining district of Johannesburg, as defined by Proclamation No. 14 of 1923, dated the 20th day of January, 1923.

▲ To the top

History of this document

10 December 2024 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 2024

18 December 2013 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 2013

16 May 2011 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Rural Development and Land Reform General Amendment Act, 2011

02 December 2010 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 2010

19 July 2006 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 2006

01 May 2004 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002

Amended by Mining Titles Registration Amendment Act, 2003

30 April 2003 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 2003

15 November 2000 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, 1998

24 March 2000 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Land Affairs General Amendment Act, 2000

01 July 1999 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Public Service Laws Amendment Act, 1997

02 November 1998 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1998

31 January 1997 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Proclamation R9 of 1997

12 April 1996 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1996

22 December 1995 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Development Facilitation Act, 1995

01 October 1994 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1993

17 December 1993 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Regional and Land Affairs Second General Amendment Act, 1993

01 December 1993 amendment not yet applied

Amended by General Law Fourth Amendment Act, 1993

01 September 1993 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Insolvency Amendment Act, 1993

01 April 1993 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1993

01 May 1992 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Expropriation Amendment Act, 1992

01 September 1991 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Less Formal Township Establishment Act, 1991

01 September 1989 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1989

02 December 1988 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Marriage and Matrimonial Property Law Amendment Act, 1988

30 September 1987 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1987

15 September 1986 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Black Communities Development Amendment Act, 1986

01 July 1985 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1984

01 November 1984 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Matrimonial Property Act, 1984

01 September 1984 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1984

01 October 1983 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1982

01 July 1982 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1982

09 May 1980 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1980

23 June 1978 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1978

13 April 1977 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1977

01 January 1977 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Expropriation Act, 1975

26 November 1976 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Registration of Deeds in Rehoboth Act, 1976

20 June 1975 amendment not yet applied

Amended by General Law Amendment Act, 1975

15 March 1974 amendment not yet applied

Amended by General Law Amendment Act, 1974

27 June 1973 amendment not yet applied

Amended by General Law Amendment Act, 1973

01 November 1972 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Land Survey Amendment Act, 1972

01 June 1972 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1972

01 November 1969 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1969

28 May 1969 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1969

01 October 1967 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Mining Titles Registration Act, 1967

06 August 1965 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1965

24 June 1964 amendment not yet applied

Amended by General Law Amendment Act, 1964

04 May 1962 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1962

19 July 1957 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1957

22 June 1956 amendment not yet applied

Amended by General Law Amendment Act, 1956

28 October 1953 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Matrimonial Affairs Act, 1953

14 August 1953 amendment not yet applied

Amended by Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1953

01 September 1937

Commenced

26 May 1937 this version

Published in Government Gazette 2443

19 May 1937

Assented to

Cited documents 0

Documents citing this one 2960

Gazette 2713

1.	Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 2001-02-26 number 721
2.	Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 2001-03-12 number 726
3.	Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 2002-02-18 number 849
4.	Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 2002-05-06 number 873
5.	Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 2002-09-05 number 919
6.	Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 2004-02-23 number 1125
7.	Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 2004-06-04 number 1171
8.	Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 2004-06-28 number 1180
9.	Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 2004-08-09 number 1195
10.	Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 2004-08-24 number 1201

Judgment 162

1.	Home Talk Developments (Pty) Ltd and Others v Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (225 of 2016) [2017] ZASCA 77 (2 June 2017)	15 citations
2.	Agri South Africa v Minister for Minerals and Energy [2013] ZACC 9 (18 April 2013)	14 citations
3.	Western Cape Provincial Government and Others intervening ; In Re: DVB Behuising (Pty) Limited v North West Provincial Government and Another [2000] ZACC 2 (2 March 2000)	14 citations
4.	Minister of Mineral Resources and Others v Sishen Iron Ore (Pty) Ltd and Another [2013] ZACC 45 (12 December 2013)	13 citations
5.	Jordaan and Others v City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and Others; City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality v New Ventures Consulting and Services (Pty) Ltd and Others; Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality v Livanos and Others [2017] ZACC 31 (29 August 2017)	11 citations
6.	Nedbank Ltd v Mendelow NO and Another (686/2012) [2013] ZASCA 98 (5 September 2013)	10 citations
7.	Desai NO v Desai NNO and Others (718/1993) [1995] ZASCA 113 (22 September 1995)	9 citations
8.	Speaker of National Assembly and Another v Land Access Movement of South Africa and Others (CCT 40/15) [2019] ZACC 10 (19 March 2019)	8 citations
9.	Panamo Properties 103 (Pty) Ltd v Land and Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa (20051/2014) [2015] ZASCA 70 (22 May 2015)	6 citations
10.	Absa v Moore (20719/2014) [2015] ZASCA 171 (26 November 2015)	5 citations

By-law 46

1.	Customer Care and Revenue Management	2 citations
2.	Customer Care Management, Credit Control and Debt Collection	1 citation
3.	Customer Care Management, Credit Control and Debt Collection	1 citation
4.	Customer Care Management, Credit Control and Debt Collection	1 citation
5.	Tariffs and Free Basic Services	1 citation
6.	Tariffs and Free Basic Services	1 citation
7.	Air Pollution Control By-law, 2011
8.	Air Pollution Control By-law, 2021
9.	Building By-law, 2015
10.	Building Regulations and Standards By-law, 2018

Act 35

1.	Administration of Estates Act, 1965	3237 citations
2.	Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994	1741 citations
3.	Income Tax Act, 1962	1717 citations
4.	Sectional Titles Act, 1986	1347 citations
5.	Matrimonial Property Act, 1984	1201 citations
6.	National Water Act, 1998	895 citations
7.	South African Schools Act, 1996	846 citations
8.	National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, 2003	673 citations
9.	Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002	660 citations
10.	Post Office Act, 1958	549 citations

Government Notice 3

1.	Land Claims Court Rules, 1997
2.	Registration of Deeds Regulations, 1963
3.	Sectional Titles Regulations, 1988

Law Reform Report 1

1.	Investigation into Legal Fees - Including Access to Justice and Other Interventions - Project 142

Subsidiary legislation

Title
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R4447 of 2024	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R3239 of 2023	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R3095A of 2023	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1802 of 2022	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1595 of 2021	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R498 of 2021	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R153 of 2021	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R884 of 2020	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Proclamation 11 of 2020	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1418 of 2019	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R283 of 2019	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R62 of 2019	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R557 of 2018	Agriculture and Land
Deeds Registries Amendment Regulations, 2017 Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R428 of 2017	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R175 of 2017	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice 200 of 2016	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R547 of 2015	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R269 of 2015	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R241 of 2013	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R195 of 2013	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R166 of 2012	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R659 of 2010	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R292 of 2010	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R198 of 2009	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1031 of 2008	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R451 of 2005	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Correction Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1137 of 2004	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1115 of 2004	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1096 of 2004	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1224 of 2003	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R308 of 2003	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R208 of 2001	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R395 of 2000	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R193 of 2000	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R204 of 1999	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R906 of 1998	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations, 1963 Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R474 of 1963	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R762 of 1998	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R740 of 1998	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R330 of 1996	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Correction Agriculture and Land	General Notice 438 of 1995	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Correction Agriculture and Land	General Notice 360 of 1995	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R184 of 1995	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Correction Agriculture and Land	General Notice 1128 of 1994	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1658 of 1994	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1403 of 1993	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1225 of 1993	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1698 of 1991	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R2825 of 1989	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R2191 of 1986	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1653 of 1986	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Correction Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1374 of 1985	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1195 of 1985	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R628 of 1984	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1892 of 1983	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Correction Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R692 of 1982	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R359 of 1982	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1141 of 1980	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Correction Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R127 of 1979	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R2578 of 1978	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R437 of 1973	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1167 of 1969	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1077 of 1969	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1105 of 1966	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R493 of 1965	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Correction Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R2142 of 1964	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R1251 of 1964	Agriculture and Land
Registration of Deeds Regulations: Amendment Agriculture and Land	Government Notice R557 of 1963	Agriculture and Land

Deeds Registries Act, 1937

Act 47 of 1937

Deeds Registries Act, 1937

Collections

Related documents

Deeds Registries Act, 1937

Act 47 of 1937

Chapter IAdministration

1. Deeds registries

2. Appointment of registrar and assistant registrar of deeds

3. Duties of registrar

4. Powers of registrar

5. Transactions affecting land in areas served by different deeds registries

6. Registered deeds not to be cancelled except upon an order of court

7. Inspection of records and supply of information

8. Appointment of Chief Registrar of Deeds

9. Regulations board

10. Regulations

Chapter IIRegistration

Registers

11. Prescribed registers

12. Temporary continuation of existing registers

General provisions

13. When registration takes place

14. Deeds to follow sequence of their relative causes

15. Preparation of deeds by conveyancer

16. How real rights shall be transferred

17. Special provisions relating to women

Chapter IIIRegistration of land

Transfer of land

18. Manner of dealing with Crown land

19. Reference to Crown rights under Cradock proclamation in future deeds

20. Form and manner of execution of deeds of transfer

21. Transfer from joint estate

22. Transfer of two or more pieces of land by one deed

23. Transfer of undivided shares in land by one deed

24. Special provisions relating to transfer of undivided shares

25. Transfer to unascertained children

26. Deeds of partition transfer

27. Requisites where share in land partitioned is mortgaged

28. Requisites where share in land partitioned is subject to other rights

29. Effect of compliance with sections 27 and 28

30. Partition of land subject to fidei commissum

31. Transfer of expropriated land or land vested by statute

32. Registration of expropriated servitudes or servitudes vested by statute

33. Registration of title by other than the ordinary procedure

Substituted title deeds

34. Certificate of registered title of undivided share

35. Certificate of registered title of aggregate share

36. Certificate of registered title of one or more properties held under one deed

37. Conditions governing the issue of certificates of registered title

38. Certificate of registered title taking place of lost or destroyed deed

39. Certificate of registered title to correct error in registration

40. Certificate of consolidated or amended title of two or more pieces of land

41. Certificate of amended title of one piece of land

42. Certificate of uniform title

43. Certificate of registered title of portion of a piece of land

Change of title by endorsement

44. Rectification of title by endorsement

45. Transfer or cession by means of endorsement

Chapter IVTownships and settlements

46. Requirements in the case of subdivision of land into lots or erven

47. Transfer of township or portion thereof

48. Special provisions affecting mortgaged land in Rand townships registration area

49. Special provisions regarding townships in the Transvaal

Chapter VBonds

General provisions

50. Execution of bonds

51. Requirements in case of bonds intended to secure future debts

52. Cession of bond securing future debts

53. Exclusion of general clause in mortgage bonds

54. No bond to be passed in favour of an agent

55. Requirements in case of bonds passed by or in favour of two or more persons

Rights of mortgagees

56. Transfer of hypothecated immovable property

57. Substitution of debtor in respect of a bond

58. Returns by master in connection with insolvent estates and further provisions relative to insolvent estates

59. Endorsement of bond after sale in execution

60. Consent of bond holder to registration of merger of rights of mortgagor

Notarial bonds

Chapter I
Administration

Chapter II
Registration

Chapter III
Registration of land

Chapter IV
Townships and settlements

Chapter V
Bonds

Chapter VI
Rights in immovable property

Chapter VII
Antenuptial contracts

Chapter VIII
Miscellaneous