A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CONVEYANCER DURING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC!
Armed with comfortable shoes, water, hand sanitizer, mask and cell phone loaded with data and airtime and good dose of Barocca and tons of patience, our Conveyancer, is ready to approach the Deeds Office.
A bit of background:
Officially the Deeds Office opened on 13 May 2020, when South Africa moved to Alert Level 3. It has been an extremely slow process - on a stop-start basis -, as the Deeds Office has had to close for decontamination several times. With limited staff members, as per Level 3 Regulations of the Disaster Management Act, it was decided that as from 30 June 2020, Deeds Office will be operating from two offices, namely 90 Plein Street, as well as a Mowbray Office, to expedite the examination of the large backlog of Deeds.
The screening and sanitizing procedures at the Deeds Office have ensured that all conveyancers are some of the most thoroughly sanitized and screened citizens. Only conveyancers are currently permitted in the building, which often means that Deeds Office Clerks and Candidate Attorneys are outside of the building and communicate telephonically; arranging for documents to be exchanged or delivered to the conveyancer. There have been frustrating, but at times amusing scenes of car boots becoming sorting tables in the street outside and many law office staff standing on the street in a telephonic conversation with their offices and conveyancers in the building.
Furthermore, an additional challenge has been the severe weather. Our Clerk has taken to tightly filing the deeds in his raincoat! as he dashes across the road to meet our Conveyancer.
The lifts in the Deeds Office are somewhat fragile and currently limiting the capacity to 2 people, so many flights of stairs are also climbed to meet the timelines. It’s all in a morning’s work – teamwork!
Where are we now?
General questions that we are often asked are the following:
- Is the Deeds Office open/how are they operating?
- Turnaround times for lodgement?
- When will my transaction register?
The Deeds Office is most definitely open! We have been advised by the Deeds Office that the current turnaround times in the Cape Town Deeds Office are as follows:
- 90% of deeds lodged on the 18 and 19 June 2020 were sorted to be allocated to level 1 examiners on 20 July 2020.
- 32% of deeds lodged on the 15 June 2020 were sorted and to be allocated to senior levels (level 2 & 3) on 20 July 2020.
To understand this, you will need to know the process once the deeds have been lodged at the Deeds Office.
With regards to the examination process:
There are 3 levels of examination in the deeds office – junior (level 1) and senior (levels 2 & 3). Once the matter has reached level 2, it normally takes a week to “appear for registration” which is when conveyancers can hand the matter in to register the following day.
To date, roughly 12 847 (35%) of the 35 937 deeds lodged have registered which unfortunately leaves a rather large backlog to still deal with.
We often need to stay on top of rates clearance certificates (only valid for 60 days) that have expired due to the length of time for examination or addendums for an early occupation to try and accommodate purchasers that need to move into their soon-to-be-property.
We wish to assure you, that the NSV Team are continually, adapting to these changes and challenges and are endeavoring to streamline and expedite the smooth passage of each and every one of our transactions in the Deeds Office.
