Property
Deeds registration with a constitutional expropriation clause and strict eviction rules
Ownership is proved by registration in a deeds registry under the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937, a negative but highly reliable system in which transfer is effected by a conveyancer and registration confers real right. Section 25 of the Constitution protects property while expressly permitting expropriation for a public purpose or in the public interest, including land reform, against just and equitable compensation.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Deeds registries in Pretoria, Cape Town and other centres register title; the Land Claims Court hears restitution and tenure matters; the High Court and magistrates' courts hear evictions under PIE.
- Deadline — PIE eviction: at least 14 days' written notice of the hearing to the occupier and the municipality
- Deadline — Transfer duty: payable within six months of the date of acquisition
- Deadline — Expropriation: compensation determined by agreement or by a court where the parties cannot agree
Governing law
- Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937 and Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986
- Constitution s 25 — the property clause, including the land-reform mandate
- Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 — replaces the 1975 Act and sets out the compensation methodology
- Prevention of Illegal Eviction from or Unlawful Occupation of Land Act 19 of 1998PIE
- Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994 and Extension of Security of Tenure Act 62 of 1997
- Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act 16 of 2013
In practice
Two facts dominate practice. First, no eviction of an unlawful occupier from land or a home is lawful without a court order made after considering all relevant circumstances — PIE reversed the common-law position decisively, and the courts require that the availability of alternative accommodation be canvassed. Second, the Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 replaced a 1975 statute that predated the Constitution; it sets out factors for just-and-equitable compensation and provides for nil compensation only in narrowly specified circumstances, and its practical operation is still being tested.