BUSINESS
four transfers currently lodged in the Deeds Office , and a further 17 cases instructed on . The fastest deceased estate matter was resolved in six months , with others taking up to 14 months to finalise .
Beyond assisting clients directly , the TSC also works to remove some of the policy , legislative and administrative barriers that exist in the deceased estate process . In May 2020 , the TSC together with Khaya Lam and others submitted a memo to the Department of Justice ( DoJ ) requesting an increase in the threshold for Small Estates , currently set at R250000 7 , to allow more individuals to benefit from the simpler and less costly process . The request was declined even though the threshold was last adjusted in 2015 . The Department noted that a broader review of the Administration of Estates Act is underway and scheduled for completion at the end of 2022 . In the meantime , those who are not deceased need to get on with their lives . We therefore still believe there is scope to increase the Small Estates threshold and will continue to engage on the matter , albeit with ourselves for the time being .
The DoJ is also exploring improved integration with the Department of Home Affairs . Ultimately , the aim is to work towards a fully digital estate administration process to enable estates to be reported online with data extracted automatically from the Department of Home Affairs databases removing the need for paper-based processes .
This would allow some components of the Master ’ s Offices ’ work to be devolved to local housing advice offices , like the TSC , to improve turn-around times and enable access . We strongly believe the effort is worth it , not only for the 7500 + properties in Khayelitsha , but for the roughly 300000 low- value properties across the country that remain under-utilised ormally ) untradeable assets . In our country ’ s post-Covid recovery strategy , we need all the wealth generating potential we can get . This is low-hanging fruit that should be grabbed with both hands .
“ The longer properties remain in deceased estates , the more opaque ownership becomes , particularly if there was no will in place – as is common in lower income areas .”
ABOUT THE TRANSACTION SUPPORT CENTRE ( TSC )
The Transaction Support Centre is an action-research project jointly run by the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa ( CAHF ) and strategic research consultancy , 71point4 . The TSC works to support formal property market transactions and enable secure tenure for property owners in low-income neighbourhoods . You can read more about the project at : 1 . https :// housingfinanceafrica . org / projects / transactionsupport-centre / 2 . https :// www . 71point4 . com / Projects / the-transactionsupport-centre /
7 The threshold was last adjusted in 2015 and currently there are no mechanisms in place to increase the threshold in line with property price inflation .
30 MAY - JUNE 2021 SAAffordHousing saaffordablehousingmag SA Affordable Housing www . saaffordablehousing . co . za