Make sure property meets all the municipal regulations

Rauch Gertenbach Attorneys gives the following advice regarding the building plans for buying or selling property:

Homeowners, both buying and selling, must ensure that the building plans of the property they are buying or selling meet municipal regulations and it has been properly approved.

Consider the following scenario:

Mr X buys a home from Mr Y and both are very excited to conclude the transaction.

Mr Y is retiring and has already made an offer on another property in Glentana.

Mr X plans to make improvements to the home he has just bought. After all the contracts have been signed, all transfer and registration costs settled and the purchase amount has been paid, the property is registered in record time.

As soon as registration of transfer had taken place, Mr X duly appointed his architect to start the drafting of plans for the improvements he plans to bring about, only to be disappointed.

Mr X finds out the existing building plans for the property on record at the municipality do not correctly reflect the building or other structures on the property.

The seller added a garage and an outside kitchen without approved building plans.

To make things worse, these structures are not in compliance with municipal regulations.

A number of problems are presented by the scenario above.

All building activities and plans must be approved by the local authority.

The municipality may even put a stop to any building activities.

The can also insist that all illegal structures be taken down or that penalties or fines be instituted against offenders.

In many cases, the current owner is not the offender that brought about the illegal structures.

However, the current owner bought the property with the illegal structures already in place.

One can imagine the possible dispute that may follow in such instances.

The buyer would want the seller to rectify the plans, together with the illegal structures.

If applicable, the buyer will be able to call upon the Consumer Protection Act.

From the seller’s perspective, it could be argued that he is not liable for the defects, as the property was bought voetstoots.

Voetstoots is often a standard clause in most contracts, especially in cases where the Consumer Protection Act is not applicable.

The counter-argument by the buyer would be that it is a latent flaw or deficiency and should thus exclude the voetstoots clause.

So as you can see, the arguments about who should take responsibility could carry on forever and a day.

Solution:

We suggest that, if you are planning to buy a property and you have identified such property, you obtain a copy of the approved municipal plan of the property.

This is to help protect yourself from any unpleasant surprises in the future.

Should you find the plans not to be in order, or if there are structures on the premises that are not reflected on the building plans, it is advisable to take immediate steps towards rectifying the situation and to obtain the necessary approval.