REGISTRAR’S CIRCULAR 2 OF 2025 – Pietermaritzburg Deeds Office
REGULATION 18 – FORM LLL
The amended Regulations to the Deeds Registries Act, 47 of 1937 published under Government Notice No. 5948 in Government Gazette No. 52219 dated 05 March 2025, introduced the amendment to Regulation 18 by the addition of sub-regulations (4) and (5) to provide for a form (Form LLL) to be completed for purposes of collecting personal information relating to the race, gender, citizenship and nationality of land owners in South Africa. This information is required for statistical and land audit purposes only.
THE PROCEDURE FOR FORM LLL
A. Form LLL must be lodged with every transaction, (inclusive of Antenuptial contracts) stapled to the front inside cover of the jacket. NB examiners must not link it as a supporting document and must not mark the document as a document (R).
B. The form must be lodged in the original and no copies will be accepted.
C. The form must be completed in full and if there are discrepancies with the information contained in the deed, the transaction must not be rejected but allow the conveyancers to amend/correct the form. (NB: Examiners must examine form LLL for correctness, lest inaccurate information is captured)
D. Examiners must raise a query and reject the deed if the form LLL has not been lodged.
E. Neither examiners nor conveyancers must remove Form LLL from deeds at any stage before/prior to registration of the transaction, as information contained therein will be captured at Data section when the transaction is captured on DRS.
F. The form will only be removed at final checking for return to the conveyancing firm as it will not be scanned for POPIA purposes. Examiners must therefore raise on office note TO FINAL CHECKING: To remove form LLL.
G. Conveyancers must stamp the From LLL with their Firm Numbers in order for final checking section to return the forms to the correct firm. The stamp must be placed on the top left corner for easy identification and uniformity. Examiners are to ensure compliance in this regard.
H. The forms will be placed in the relevant firms pigeonholes at delivery on a weekly basis.
REGULATION 84 – LODGEMENT FEE
Item 1 of the Schedule of Fees contained in Government Gazette no.52191 dated 28 February 2025, states the following:
“1. For services rendered regarding the registration of –
(a) Lodgement fee (excluding RDP Housing)
Chief Registrar’s Circular (CRC) 2 of 2025 was thereafter issued and expanded on how the lodgement fee will be charged – see paragraph 2.1.2 therein. However, there are transactions that are exempt from office fees by law, that will not attract lodgement fees. R50,00 lodgement per deed/ document”
For example, Section 10(4)(b) of the Provision of Land and Assistance Act 126 of 1993 provides as follows:
“(4) Despite section 14 of the Deeds Registries Act, 1937 (Act No. 47 of 1937), and the provisions of any other law to the contrary, the transfer of ownership of any property contemplated in this Act-
(a) ……
(b) shall be exempt from the payment of any transfer, stamp or other duty, fees of the deeds office or other charge.”
From the above it is clear to see that the transactions under this Act are exempt from fees of the deeds office, including lodgement fees.
Another example is Section 42A (2) of the Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994 which provides as follows:
“42A. Registration of land in name of claimant
(1)…..
(2) No duty, fee or other charge is payable in respect of any registration in terms of subsection (1)”
The procedure to be followed:
1. Notice to conveyancers 1 of 2025 was issued on the 4th April 2025 relating to the procedure to be followed by conveyancers in terms of the procedure for lodgement of exempted transactions.
2. Data section will bill these transactions when prepping the deeds for examination.
3. Examiners must, during examination, confirm whether these transactions are exempt by law. If they are indeed confirmed as exempt, no action must be taken by the examiner.
4. However, if they are confirmed not to be exempt, an examiner must raise a note to the conveyancer (not to reject, if it’s the only defect identified), but merely point out that the transaction is not exempt and that it will be billed a lodgement fee.
Further the examiner must take the deed(s) to data for the fee to be charged.
5. Where deeds are not marked exempt at lodgement or not following the procedure laid out in Notice 1 of 2025, such deeds will be billed as a non-exempt transactions even if on examination it is found to be exempt, the only exemption will be that of registration fee.
Regards
B R Mdunge
Acting Registrar of Deeds: PIETERMARITZBURG
25 April 2025
