With effect from 1 January 2020, if you have lost your Deed of Transfer, registered Lease Agreement, Notarial Deed or Notarial Bond, you should expect a 4 weeks delay in the registration process.
This is because the Deeds Registries Regulations have been amended and the process of applying for replacement copies includes the following:
- You, or rather your Conveyancer, will need to advertise in a newspaper circulating in the area where the property is, that you have the intention of applying for a copy of the deed to replace the original which has been lost.
- Newspapers usually require about 10 days to 2 weeks’ notice before publishing any notice – so that is 2 weeks lost!
- Once advertised copies of the lost deed will need to be available for inspection by members of the public, at the deeds office where the deed was originally registered – 2 more weeks lost.
- Members of the public who wish to object to the issue of the replacement deed, must lodge such objection in writing with that Registrar of Deeds within the 2-week period from publication of the notice.
The cost of applying for the replacement copy will also be increased by the cost of these advertisements.
If you need to apply for a lost copy, then we suggest you instruct us to do so timeously so that we can lodge the application with the Registrar of Deeds before 20 December 2019.
Andrew Smith has 26 years of conveyancing experience, including subdivisions, township developments, sectional title developments, servitudes, usufruct transfers, general transfers, mortgage bonds, and uses his tax background to structure complicated transactions in the most tax efficient manner.