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Sectional Titles Act, 1986 (Act No. 95 of 1986)

Part II : Development Schemes, Sectional Plans And Sectional Title Registers

14. Amendment and cancellation of sectional plans

 

(1) The Surveyor-General may require a land surveyor or architect who has prepared a registered sectional plan to alter or amend, or the developer or the body corporate to cause to be altered or amended, any registered sectional plan found to be incorrect, or to substitute another sectional plan for the incorrect sectional plan.

 

(2) The body corporate may recover the costs incurred as a result of an alteration or amendment to a sectional plan, or the substitution thereof, in terms of subsection (1), from the developer, land surveyor or architect concerned.

 

(3) If in the opinion of the Surveyor-General any person could be prejudiced by an incorrect sectional plan, he or she shall advise the registrar as to which sections or exclusive use areas are affected by any such defect in question, and thereafter no transfer of such section and its undivided share in the common property or the registration of a real right therein, or the cession of an exclusive use area, shall be registered until the defect in the sectional plan has been rectified, unless the registrar is satisfied that the delay in causing the defective sectional plan to be rectified will cause undue hardship and the person in whose favour transfer of the section and its undivided share in the common property or of a real right therein, or cession of an exclusive use area, is to be registered, consents in writing to the transfer or other registration being effected prior to the rectification of the defect.

[Section 14(3) substituted by section 3(a) of Sectional Titles Amendment Act, 2022, Notice No. 1545, GG47830, dated 5 January 2023 - effective 5 January 2023]

 

(4) The formalities for the alteration, amendment or substitution of a sectional plan in terms of subsection (1), shall be as prescribed.

 

(5) The Surveyor-General shall advise the registrar and the local authority of any alteration, amendment or substitution of a sectional plan in terms of subsection (1) which affects the description or extent of any section or exclusive use area, and thereupon the registrar shall make the necessary endorsements reflecting any change of description or extent upon the deeds registry copy of the sectional title deed and upon any other registered document affected by such change, and shall likewise endorse the owner’s or holder’s copy of that sectional title deed or any such other registered document whenever subsequently lodged at the deeds registry for any purpose.

[Section 14(5) substituted by section 3(b) of Sectional Titles Amendment Act, 2022, Notice No. 1545, GG47830, dated 5 January 2023 - effective 5 January 2023]

 

(6) The registrar may on application by a developer, which application shall be accompanied by a certificate by a conveyancer in which he certifies—
(a) that all the units of a scheme are registered in the developer's name;
(b) that, if applicable, the developer is the holder of a right referred to in section 25 or 27; and
(c) that no unit or no right referred to in section 25 or 27 is encumbered by a sectional mortgage bond or a lease or in any other way,

close the sectional title register, and notify the Surveyor-General and the local authority that the sectional title register has been closed, whereupon the Surveyor-General shall cancel the original sectional plan and the deeds registry copy thereof.

[Section 14(6) substituted by section 4(a) of Act No. 7 of 1992]

 

(7) Whenever a sectional title register has been closed under subsection (6), the registrar shall make all such alterations, amendments, endorsements and entries on the developer's sectional title deeds and in the registers and records kept by him, as may be necessary to record such cancellation and the reversion of the land in question to the applicable land register, and shall in the manner prescribed cause the developer's title deed referred to in section 11(3)(c) to be revived, or shall issue to the developer a certificate of registered title in the form prescribed under the Deeds Registries Act for the said land, subject or entitled to such servitudes, other real rights and conditions (if any) as are still applicable to or in respect of such land.

[Section 14(7) substituted by section 4(b) of Act No. 7 of 1992]

 

(8)

(a) A registered sectional plan shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (6) and sections 17(6), 48 and 49, only be cancelled by an order of the Court, and the registrar shall give effect to any such cancellation by making the necessary endorsements and entries in his or her records in the prescribed manner, and shall notify the Surveyor-General, who shall cancel the original sectional plan and the deeds office copy thereof.
(b) The provisions of section 49(3) to 49(5) apply, with the necessary changes, in instances where a body corporate is in existence upon cancellation of the sectional plan by an order of the Court.

[Section 14(8) substituted by section 3(c) of Sectional Titles Amendment Act, 2022, Notice No. 1545, GG47830, dated 5 January 2023 - effective 5 January 2023 - subsections have been renumbered]

 

(9) The registrar shall notify the local authority of the cancellation of the registration of a sectional plan.