Deeds Office Pmb Reopening

The Registrar of Deeds, Pietermaritzburg issued circular 4/2020 which says, in essence, that the Pietermaritzburg Deeds Registry will reopen on 13 May 2020 and will accept the 1st lodgement on 19 May 2020.

The effect of this arrangement is that virtually every rates certificate issued for use in the Pietermaritzburg Registry will lapse prior to registration.

This does not sound like an insurmountable problem, except that many municipalities have not commenced issuing new rates certificates – our biggest municipal area is eThekwini; this morning I received a response from it to the effect that the Ethekwini municipality has not yet reopened its rates department for the purpose of issuing rates certificates. As it is, one can easily wait a month to obtain a rates quote for payment, let alone a receipt. With a backlog and minimal staff, the effect of the above will be that registrations and, consequently the flow of fees/commissions/and sale prices will be significantly delayed.

Daan