Every piece of land that is transferred in South Africa is reflected on a plan/diagram indicating the location of the property and all important legal rights and obligations affecting the immovable property is reflected against the Title Deed of the said Property.
As a result, the Title Deed and the Diagram relating to the property both play a central part in our land ownership and registration system.
The registration process relating to the Title Deed is dealt with in the Registrar of Deeds Offices and the Diagram/plan is approved and registered in the Surveyor-General Offices.
The record keeping process between these two offices creates absolute certainty and protection of rights relating to immovable property and any information that you may require relating to any immovable property in South Africa can be obtained between these two offices.
If you want to know who the owner is and what restrictions apply in respect of any property then you need to obtain a copy of the Title Deed from the applicable Registrar of Deeds offices. If you want to know the correct name, extent and location of any property then you need to inspect the Diagram/Plan available from the applicable Surveyor General’s Offices.
There is a special clause in every Title Deed that tells you the details of the applicable Plan/Diagram.
Our land registration system in South Africa is generally acknowledged to be one of the best and accurate systems in the world.
