Joburg Deeds Office Floods After Warnings Ignored. Safety and Land Title Integrity Now at Risk

The Johannesburg Deeds Office has flooded — a development that has reignited concerns about public safety and the protection of land title records after repeated warnings from legal professionals were ignored.

Video footage obtained by Moneyweb on Tuesday shows water leaking through the ceiling of the parking garage at the registry’s premises, highlighting the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development’s ongoing failure to respond meaningfully to safety concerns raised by the Johannesburg Attorneys Association (JAA).

In a letter dated 29 April, the JAA urgently appealed to key officials, including Director-General Ramasodi Mooketsa and Chief Registrar of Deeds Carlize Knoesen, to relocate the Deeds Office from its deteriorating building. Their plea, supported by documentation of structural issues, fell on deaf ears.

“The members of the profession and their staff do not have the luxury of not attending at the deeds registry despite the alleged safety concerns,” wrote Karla Strydom of the JAA Property Committee in the letter. “They are therefore obliged to tolerate the stressful working conditions imposed on them by the concessions made to address your staff concerns.”

One such “concession” allowed examiners to take deed documents home for assessment. While this workaround aimed to ease in-office strain, it introduced severe risks to data security and personal safety. The JAA confirmed that an examiner was recently assaulted and robbed of several lodged matters, a situation they had warned the department about.

“It is most disconcerting that your department does not appear to be overly concerned by this risk to the integrity of the deeds registry system,” Strydom said. “The lack of concern exhibited to the public’s security of land title is alarming.”

The JAA had formally requested, as far back as 11 March, that the Department move the Deeds Office to a safe and suitable location. With no action taken, the Association is now considering legal intervention, potentially seeking a court order to compel relocation within six weeks.

This latest flood and the mounting frustration of legal professionals signal a deeper crisis within South Africa’s land administration system. It is no longer just about infrastructure — it’s about the public’s trust in the safety and validity of property ownership records.

{Source: Money Web}

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