Legislation: Electronic Deeds Registration Bill ready for enactment

A Bill providing for the development of an electronic deeds registration system was among 11 pieces of proposed new legislation adopted last week by the NCOP and sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa for signature, notes Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch. Tabled in December 2017, once operational the Electronic Deeds Registration System Bill’s ‘B’ version is expected to address many of the challenges associated with the manual preparation and lodging of documents by conveyancers, as well as with deeds processing by the registrar. According to a memorandum on the Bill’s objects, work on the new system has already begun.

The introduction of electronic deeds registration appears to have been prompted by the release of ‘an anticipated 20 million land parcels’ as government’s land reform programme gathers momentum. In that regard, the memorandum also notes the importance of providing ‘registration capability’ for ‘other forms of land tenure’ yet to be introduced. In addition, the new system will consolidate and rationalise the different registration procedures created under SA’s previous dispensation, decentralise existing services and – because it will be linked to electronic cadastral information system – improve the efficiency and accuracy of land information management.

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