Against the backdrop of South Africa’s shift towards the full-scale implementation of an electronic deeds registration system (‘e-DRS’), new amendments to the Regulations under the Deeds Registries Act were recently published. Although limited in scope, the amended provisions, which take effect on 1st March 2026, underlie the importance of aligning conveyancing practice with digitalisation.
Description of undivided shares
Pre-amendment, Regulation 30 required that an undivided share be expressed in its lowest term but did not prescribe the mode of expression. Consequently, fractional descriptions, such as ‘one-half’ or ‘five-eighths’ were widely accepted in practice. Now, all undivided shares must be expressed as percentages in their lowest term, with the method of calculation stated in complicated cases. Notably, where ownership is held by multiple persons in unequal shares, each share must comply with this requirement. This alteration ensures compatibility with an e-DRS that requires easily ascertainable and machine-readable data.
Servitudes registered without diagrams
Until now, servitudes could lawfully be registered by description without a diagram where the Registrar deemed it expedient, but no obligation existed to notify the Surveyor-General. The insertion of Regulation 73(2B) requires the Registrar to inform the Surveyor-General whenever a servitude is registered without a supporting diagram. Critically, the amendment does not alter the law relating to servitudes or impose additional duties on practitioners. Instead, it addresses an institutional gap by ensuring alignment between deeds registration and cadastral records.
Inspection of records and strong rooms
Previously, Regulation 80 conferred broad discretion on Registrars to regulate access to records, which resulted in inconsistent practices across the country’s Deed Offices. The substituted regulation standardises national access by restricting unsupervised inspection to specified professionals, such as legal practitioners and approved clerks, and requiring supervision for inspections by other members of the public. From a data security perspective, the amendment tightens controls over microfilm and electronic records.
Fees of Office
In a bid to eliminate ambiguity and ensure uniform application, the revised Regulation 84 confirms that the Schedule of Fees of Office is the sole authority for all Deeds Registry fees.
Collectively assessed, the new amendments are largely practice-driven and aim to both enhance uniformity across South Africa’s Deeds Offices and reinforce the integrity of deeds registration in an increasingly electronic environment.
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