Have You Lost or Misplaced your Original Title Deed?
*UPDATE*
21 February, 2019: The Deeds Registries Regulations Board, at a meeting on 19 February 2019, resolved to suspend the implementation of the amendments that we have referred to in this post.
The amended regulations are as a result of an increase in fraudulent transactions and a need has arisen for stricter procedures when it comes to issuing copies of title deeds.
The regulations have been suspended as some of the requirements have been viewed as impractical.
We will update this post as soon as updated regulations have been published.
It is about to get more expensive and time consuming to obtain replacement copies. The current procedure is to simply sign an affidavit before a commissioner of oaths (which can be done at our office) and we then lodge it at the Deeds Office.
The regulations of the Deeds Registries Act has been amended to introduce a new and more onerous procedure when applying for replacement copies of lost deeds.
This new procedure comes into effect on 25 February 2019.
If you cannot locate your original deed, which includes title deeds, mortgage bonds, notarial bonds, registered leases etc, then you will need to comply with the following procedure after 25 February 2019.
These are the new requirements:
A notification of the intention to apply for such replacement copy must now be published in the Government Gazette;
A copy of the deed must lie open for inspection at the Deeds Office for a period of 2 weeks after the date of publication, for possible objections; and
The affidavit which accompanies the application for the replacement deed must now be attested by a Notary Public instead of a commissioner of oaths.
Contact us for help with your title deed replacement copies
If you have lost your deed and would like to obtain a replacement copy now under the current regulations, which are simpler and more affordable, then please do get in contact with us.