Joburg Deeds Office floods after ignored warnings

Flooding has occurred at the Johannesburg Deeds Office following unresolved building concerns previously raised by the Johannesburg Attorneys Association (JAA).

Video footage seen by Moneyweb on Tuesday shows water leaking from the parking area’s roof.

A letter by the JAA, dated 29 April, addressed to the Director-General of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Ramasodi Mooketsa, the Chief Registrar of Deeds, Carlize Knoesen, and the Registrar of Deeds in Johannesburg, Makaziwe Ntuli, detailed the building issues which have made it untenable.

Read the full letter here.

“The members of the profession and their staff do not have the luxury of not attending at the deeds registry despite the alleged safety concerns and are therefore obliged to tolerate the stressful working conditions imposed on them by the concessions made to address your staff concerns,” says Karla Strydom from the JAA Property Committee in the letter.

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To address some of the building’s challenges, the department has since made concessions and developed contingency plans, including taking some deeds home for examination. However, doing so could create other problems.

“We previously raised our concerns about deeds leaving the deeds registry offices for examination at home, and now that an examiner has been violently assaulted and robbed of numerous lodged matters, our fears are a reality,” says Strydom.

She continued: “It is most disconcerting that your department does not appear to be overly concerned by this risk to the integrity of the
deeds registry system and the lack of concern exhibited to the public’s security of land title is alarming”.

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In an 11 March communication, the JAA requested the department find and move the Deeds Office to a suitable building – a step that was not taken. As a result, the JAA says the conveyancing profession may seek a court order compelling the department to do so within six weeks.

This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.